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What is crackalacting Hardwin Knox listeners,
I am Damp Valley coming at you without

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00:00:08,800 --> 00:00:13,160
my fantabulous co host Adam Promwell.
I am, however, super pleased and

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00:00:13,240 --> 00:00:17,160
excited as always to be joined by
a Bleacher Reports grant us, a good

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00:00:17,199 --> 00:00:21,559
friend and a long time colleague of
mine. We with the the NBA kind

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of mirroring the quarter mark of its
season. We get into some big picture

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00:00:25,239 --> 00:00:31,039
questions relating to the league at large, certain teams that are just bandying about

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our brains at the moment. We
also have an in depth discussion about Luke

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Walton being fired by the Sacramento Kings, the process of that decision, what

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went into it, what should have
gone into it, where they go from

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00:00:42,840 --> 00:00:47,159
here. That was a great talk. The entire episode is just awesome and

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tackles against some real macro issues at
least that are boring a hole in our

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00:00:50,799 --> 00:00:55,159
brains. We really get into the
playoff pecking orders for each conference as well.

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If you're listening to this the day
before Thanksgiving as you travel, or

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on Thanksgiving after Thanksgiving, whenever however
you're listening to it, Happy Thanksgiving,

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00:01:03,880 --> 00:01:06,959
and just to shout out to everyone
who continues to rock with us. We'll

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be back to two episodes per week
I believe next week following Thanksgiving, so

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you can look forward to that.
And also, last, but certainly not

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least, please, please, pretty
please remember to rate, review, and

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to it, search hardwin Knox,
throw us that five star rating and write

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review. It does not take long
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the reviews can really help us out
in the charts. If this is your

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first time listening to us, because
you stumble across this, maybe someone recommended

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this podcast. Whatever, thank you
for listening. Consider throwing us a permanent

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subscription. And to all our long
time listeners who have already written reviews and

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submitter reviews, consider helping us with
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friend, family member, acquaintance,
random person on social media know about us

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and how pleasantly sub mediocre our league
wide basketball analysis is. Without further delay,

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though, let's get to talking about
some really fun, big questions and

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topics related to the NBA and the
rest of the season with Bleacher reports Grant

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Hughes Brant, welcome back. Thank
you so much again for coming back on

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the Hardward Off podcast to talk hoops
with me. I think this is a

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good time as we lead into Thanksgiving
and we're around the quarter mark, to

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sort of just take stock of bigger
picture things and just what are we asking

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ourselves, like what are the biggest
questions on our mind for the rest of

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the season. Which is why I
spammed you and asked you to come on

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this week, and you graciously accepted. First and foremost, though we were

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recording this on a Tuesday night,
as the Knicks are threatening to blow what

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was a monstrous lead over the Lakers, how are you doing like the Golden

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State Warriors, who I feel like
we have to lead off with if only

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with this mention, I'm doing fantastically, just exceeding expectations across the board,

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confident, assured in our greatness and
potentially getting better as the season goes on.

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And recognizing Draymond Green probably that your
extension eligible this Offseasonance, You're so

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cynical, That's what a terrible thing
to say. I'm sure that's got nothing

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to do with it. I actually
and I'm not even being a troll.

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One of the questions that I have
to throw at you has to deal with

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the Golden State Warriors. But I
wanted to ask you first about this is

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dated by this point, but the
Kings fired Luke Walton definitely not a decision

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that they could have made over the
offseason. You needed the seventeen game sample

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that he gave you the regular season
to figure that out. Name Alvin Gentry,

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their interim head coach. What do
you just make of just the King's

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organization at large at this point?
Because this is this is just so much.

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Walton probably shouldn't have gotten a job
in the first place, just given

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the sexual assault allegations that we're out
there at the time and are still out

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there as far as I know,
But he probably should have been fired already.

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He also wasn't like the problem.
Getting rid of him is not the

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antidote. I guess my points.
I'm just curious, like what you think

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of just this entire thing. Yeah, I mean it's well, where do

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you even start? Really? I
think I think so, Yes, it

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made sense it made sense to fire
him, right because the Kings, I

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guess, are disappointing as certainly based
based you know, measured against internal expectations.

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I think it's you know, some
of the reporting that's coming out now

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and has been around for most of
this year was that they really did want

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to make the playoffs this year,
or at least get to the playing.

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They're not currently in that position,
and it sort of seems like they have

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the talent to at least be playing
a kind of level. So yeah,

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you get rid of him. But
then, like you said, and like

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everybody else has said, how on
earth have these three weeks a month of

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games? I guess it's a month
now, you know, meaningfully changed what

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you thought about Luke Walton coming into
the seat, Like everybody said, you

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should have done it in the off
season, Like that's just what you do.

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I think the other big problem is
it feels like, for a while

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now the Kings have had a coach
who was not hired by the general man

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that's in charge, and so it's
sort of like there's just a shelf life.

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And that was the case with Walton
and Monty McNair. Obviously there's just

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a shelf life. I mean,
things have to go incredibly well. It

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seems like for a coach that the
GM did not hire to last, you

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know, as full contract or whatever. They certainly can't go badly, which

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they did. I just think,
you know, overall, it just has

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to be pinned back on ownership,
right because there's only one constant in all

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this, and it's just you know, ownership. The vecrona DVA being sort

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of the figurehead of all that,
has just been impatient and you look at

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all these other teams that have been
bad, but bad you know, as

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a means to an end, you
know, to stockpile draft picks, to

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strip rosters down to whatever. You
know, the thunder and extreme example,

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like the process Sixers began and ended
while the Kings were dicking around trying to

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make the hate seed right like that, that whole thing started and finished.

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The Rockets will probably be good before
the Kings are good, you know,

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and they they're starting all the way
over. So the unwillingness to just you

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know, really commit to starting over
and then sort of getting it wrong when

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you've been bad enough to actually start
over aka badley. You know, it's

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just bad luck, it's bad management, it's impatience, it's all that stuff.

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It's the reason they've got a playoff
drought. That's you know, almost

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able to legally drink. Yeah,
and look they've been probably they are where

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I would expect them to be about
in the standings, hovering not inside,

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but wafting around playoff territory. I
get that this stretch in which he was

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over which he was fired, coincided
with you know, they're one and eight.

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One of those games includes Walt'm already
being gone twenty seventh and net rating

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during that time twenty sixth in defense, twenty sixth in offense, and twenty

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first in defense. So I get
there was a level of underachieving. I

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think one of the I agree with
everything you said. The other issue here

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is that there seems to be like
this in he's impatient, the fact round

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of THEIVA, the organization, the
front office at large, because it's it's

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upstairs at this point. But you
also didn't make this decision until now.

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You waited, and so you still
have to pay him the same amount of

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money like through this season and the
next season, which is when he was

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under contract for. So don't understand
that it's equally damning, if not more

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damning, that they have no fucking
idea how to self evaluate, because what

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about this team that finished eleventh in
the West last season. What did they

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do over the offseason that made you
think, Hey, we need to be

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a playoff team this season. Traded
for Tristan Thompson, drafted Davion Mitchell.

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I know darn Fox is a year
older. I know you kept Rashaun Holmes.

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I know Tari's Halliburton's a sophomore.
I get that. But you didn't

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do anything to really bolster the wing
rotation. And I do think there is

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a level of squandered opportunity here because
Harrison, Barnes and even Buddy Heald have

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played some of their best basketball of
their career this season. Reshaun Holmes is

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just freaking solid. Rashaun Holmes still
probably one of the most underrated players in

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the NBA, even though I feel
like there's a whole subgenre of Twitter dedicated

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to talking about his pushhot right and
what happens Just what if Fox doesn't?

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I mean, what if Fox doesn't
suck to start the year for them?

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Are they in a different spot?
And so I get like that level of

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what if is m But they weren't. They didn't make enough changes and you

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couldn't see the path to a ton
of internal development to the extent that they

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would be one of the guaranteed top
eight even ten teams in the Western Conference.

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And that's just incompetence if you expected
a lot more, Yeah, you

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don't expect them to go through a
stretch for their one and seven. At

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the same time, your overall record
is just kind of indicative of the talent

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I would say that you have,
maybe you want to achieve the little bit.

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I would describe that more so though, to Fox's performance, and maybe

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just like this team, im perpetuity
needs to put more of a focus on

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transition. And so I get there
were flaws, but nothing to me happened

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this season justifies the timing of doing
it now versus not doing it over the

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offseason. Yeah, I would say
the transition thing you brought up is a

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great point because I feel like,
you know, we've been certainly I feel

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like I have, and most Kings
fans have been harping on the fact that,

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like you've got Dedaron Fox, and
I think maybe last year they played

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a little faster, but you know
the year before that, and certainly this

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00:09:22,679 --> 00:09:26,440
year they're just like dearon Fox's best
skill as his speed. He's not a

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good half court player because he can't
shoot, especially this year, he's making

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like I think, under a quarter
of his threes right now, and so

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that's just not the way they can
play as a slowdown game or any sort

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of set offense. The way for
this roster to succeed is to have Fox

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run as fast as he can,
as often as he can, and maybe

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Buddy Healed spots up in Haliburton spot. You know, there's a there's like

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a theory of this team that makes
sense. And I think if you were

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going to make one significant criticism of
Walton, while I agree like he wasn't

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the problem, it's that he just
didn't have the team playing in a way

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that maximized the personnel that it has. But then you know, look,

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Fox just has to get better in
year five or whatever. This is,

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Like, you know, I feel
like the last couple of years have been,

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oh, this is the deer and
Fox leap like to All Star serious

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consideration, at least I do that
every year for the last two or three,

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and he's just been one of the
most disappointing players in the league.

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00:10:18,799 --> 00:10:26,679
I think full stop Walton didn't like
there wasn't anything glaring that said he definitely

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00:10:26,720 --> 00:10:28,279
should be fired, let alone,
you know, a few weeks into the

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season. But you could also say, like he didn't really if he had

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00:10:31,960 --> 00:10:33,639
to sit down and make a case, we're like, hey, this is

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why you should keep me on as
the coach, because here's what I've done.

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00:10:35,360 --> 00:10:37,919
Like he doesn't have a lot to
say, I don't think during a

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00:10:37,960 --> 00:10:45,200
pretty short ten year. Yeah,
and so Sacramento last year they were eighth

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00:10:45,320 --> 00:10:50,240
in average possession time per Impredictable.
This year they're actually six, so they're

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00:10:50,279 --> 00:10:54,879
a little better. And the frequency
with which they're in transition as a percentage

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00:10:54,879 --> 00:10:58,120
of their plays their eighth, And
they're actually been fairly they're more efficient than

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I remember in transition. They still
just like I don't know whether it's if

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00:11:03,399 --> 00:11:07,960
you're going when they're committing turnovers.
I feel like they're probably not pushing it

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00:11:07,240 --> 00:11:11,879
hard enough. And I thought darn
Fox made strides in the half court last

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00:11:11,919 --> 00:11:15,480
year, but you already mentioned,
like his three point shooting is broken.

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Among every single player who averages five
pull up attempts per game this season,

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00:11:20,399 --> 00:11:22,879
they're fifty nine of them. Foxes
affect a field goal percentage on pull up

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00:11:22,919 --> 00:11:28,519
jumpers ranks fifty seven it's sub thirty
nine right now, so those are issues

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00:11:28,559 --> 00:11:31,639
too, And it just felt like
there wasn't even if they were playing at

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a faster pace, it almost felt
like there wasn't a It wasn't true transition

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00:11:37,000 --> 00:11:39,679
all the time, if that makes
any sense. It felt like it was

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00:11:39,720 --> 00:11:43,840
just more early shot clock opportunities that
might fall under the transition unbrella or semi

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transition stuff where they maybe weren't even
necessarily getting like the best looks up there.

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So the fact, I guess the
bigger crime is whatever you want.

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It didn't feel like they had any
sort of identity on the offensive end,

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00:11:54,600 --> 00:11:58,759
and they just haven't had a defensive
identity for quite some time. And I'm

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00:11:58,759 --> 00:12:01,840
intaining this. They were better defensively
over the past couple of weeks. Maybe

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00:12:01,840 --> 00:12:05,120
that's a function of their competition,
but like last year, they just they

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00:12:05,200 --> 00:12:09,919
switched just basically everything. It was
just it was a disaster. And I

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00:12:09,919 --> 00:12:13,799
think you look at their personnel,
even with the absence of those truer wings,

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I don't know that I look at
this team and say they should be

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00:12:16,840 --> 00:12:22,279
bottom five. No, well we're
bagging on Fox. I have another one.

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00:12:22,279 --> 00:12:26,120
There's nineteen players that have taken three
hundred shots as of today in the

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00:12:26,200 --> 00:12:30,960
league and Fox is among them,
and he has the worst tree shooting percentage

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00:12:31,080 --> 00:12:35,720
behind Russell Westbrook of that of that
group. And again, to your point,

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00:12:35,080 --> 00:12:39,759
Fox should be a good defensive player. He's long for a point guard,

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00:12:39,799 --> 00:12:43,000
he's super fast. He put on
like he should be much better.

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00:12:43,080 --> 00:12:48,639
He's not a good defender. Like
so they just maybe that's on Walden right,

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00:12:48,840 --> 00:12:54,440
Maybe like these guys just not playing
to the level of their potential or

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00:12:54,480 --> 00:12:56,480
whatever skill they have is falls to
him. I don't know. Oh,

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00:12:56,519 --> 00:13:00,960
the Tristan Thompson has a lot to
say about whether whether you need a coach

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00:13:01,000 --> 00:13:05,639
to motivate you or make you passionate
or whatever whatever that was. Was he

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00:13:05,679 --> 00:13:09,720
wrong? No, I don't Maybe
the messenger was odd, but was he

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00:13:09,759 --> 00:13:13,159
wrong? Because one of the things
I took issue with the messengers very odd

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00:13:13,159 --> 00:13:18,159
by the way, is I saw
you know, I think Rashaun Holmes came

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00:13:18,159 --> 00:13:22,360
out with the most ringing endorsement of
Walton. But like everyone said, it

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00:13:22,399 --> 00:13:24,360
felt like they have this meeting where
they all agree the party line was we

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00:13:24,399 --> 00:13:28,000
have his back. So that brings
hollowed to me in the first place.

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00:13:28,080 --> 00:13:28,799
However, there are people that point
out, like, hey, if they

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00:13:28,799 --> 00:13:33,720
say they have Walton's back and he
resonates with the players, I'm I want

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to make it cure that I'm not
typically this person. There is no one

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on this roster and the Strussing general
is not good enough to have a fucking

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say on the head coach. You
don't get to have a say on the

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head coach. You guys, you're
terrible, like you don't. No one

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should have the leverage to be like
Luke Walton needs to stay. And so

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if that's part of the reason why
they kept Luke Walton over the off season,

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I'm not pinning it on the players. This is front office, the

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vetran at, the everybody up there
first and foremost needs to be blamed.

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The players and their feelings about ut
Walton, Like they don't to me,

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like they're irrelevant just because the kids
are not good enough for anyone to have

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that type of input. Yeah,
it makes you wonder you always did hear

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rumors that the fox was very much
in Walton, in Walton's corner, and

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maybe maybe that's want do you want
this coach to stay? Maybe maybe that's

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part of what kept or got Walton
you know, didn't didn't get Walton fired

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over the offseason. His Fox was
like, I'm coming off twenty five points

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00:14:28,679 --> 00:14:31,120
a game. This is my guy. I'm gonna you know, I'm gonna

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blow up. Not saying this obviously, you know, specifically, but he

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could have vouched for him then because
Fox has a lot less clout now on

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a max contract, by the way, which that's looking a little scary.

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Then you still believe, you know, I want to believe. It's just

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it's been tough to watch this year. It really has. I don't know,

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I don't It's one of those things
where you almost expect, like some

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unexpected piece of news to come out. We're like, oh, he's he's

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sprained his ankle in training camp and
it's been you know, bothering him all

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year or something like that, just
to have a an explanation for what's going

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on. Yeah, I mean,
look, he's his shot selection has always

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been a little bit iffy. I
feel like he has a loosey, goosey

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handle this season more than ever two
and he's exchanged both looks at the rim

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and three pointers, and those have
just translated into more mid range jumpers,

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which even if he's hitting them at
a slightly above average clip relative to the

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rest of the league. That's just
not the situation you want to go to.

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I also wonder how much he's been
because his rim frequency is down a

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little bit, not a Tom is
Ton, excuse me, he's finishing around

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the rim has dropped a bunch,
and he's not getting as many free throws.

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His free throw tenth rate has dropped
by not a huge margin, but

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by more than six points. So
yeah, is he being impacted more by

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the rules. I don't think it's
on a level or scale of James Harden,

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but is that part of it.
I do think his shot selection is

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like, is not great. Yeah, I think, well, like his

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foul drawing, you know, certainly
two years ago and last year pretty cool,

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like elite, like he was really
really good at taking contact and finishing

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or getting to the line. And
I just think anecdotally, I think I

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think you can't rule out the way
that the officiating has changed for anybody.

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I think that's a real factor this
year. I think it's a good thing,

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by the way, but I think
it has affected stuff. The numbers

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bear that out. You know,
offense is way down, free throws are

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down, all that stuff, but
I think he looks he doesn't look the

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same. He's not, He's not
that burst isn't there as often. He's

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not just launching into guys, taking
contact and finishing as often as he did

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a year ago. So that's why
I keep I wonder if if he's if

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he's all the way there physically,
I just I don't know. Yeah,

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it goes beyond like the just the
free throw volume too, and his free

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throw shooting has never been great.
No, that's another problem. But like

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the because I guess they're tighter with
the whistles, it's harder in general to

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finish around the rim, and we've
seen I think it's creeped back up.

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But like the average person or shots
that are going in around the rim,

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rim has dropped dramatically. I think
we've we've obviously seen the bigger drop off

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from three point range. For now. We'll see if that goes up,

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but that could be another factor of
it too. And look, he look

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he hit like forty percent of his
step back threes last year and it was

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like a real weapon in his arsenal. So I'm hopeful that it will come

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back. And to what you said, I do that I didn't really think

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of that. Maybe there is something
where it's like a sprained ankle or wrist,

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and we just don't we don't know
the full extent of it right now,

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just making excuses. I will start
off our big picture questions though,

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with one about the Kings. Okay, will they be sellers at the trade

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deadline? Because they can't be buyers, I guess unless you want to involve

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yourself in the Ben Simmons sweepstakes.
So if you want me to frame it

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as I think it'll be buyers or
sellers with the trade deadline, and I

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don't mean to I have a couple
of questions about the trade deadline. I

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don't mean to force this to the
four of the NBA discussion because I know

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there's a huge section of fans now
that seemed very anti transaction. But is

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something in the back of my mind
that I'm thinking of, which I'll talk

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about with one of my other questions
with this team specifically, though, it's

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just like, you're so aimless right
now when you look at the talent on

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the Thruster, I don't there's no
clear path unless you shut everybody down to

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just bottoming out and getting another top
pick. And then also you're just not

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good enough and even young enough,
because okay, you have Mitchell and Haliburton,

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even Fox, but where is the
internal growth coming where you're going from

283
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twelfth to seventh or sixth whatever it
is in the West. And I'm not

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saying you need to look at moving
Fox. I would say Fox, Halbert

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00:18:33,519 --> 00:18:37,200
and Mitchell should be viewed as part
of your core unless you have the chance

286
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to acquire this transcendent star. But
when you look at Harrison Barnes is going

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to be the name that comes up, Buddy Heald's going to be a name

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00:18:42,640 --> 00:18:47,640
that comes up. Rashaun Holmes is
just older and he's a great player.

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Is that someone you look at moving
as well? And so I'm curious as

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to what you think is going to
happen or what you think should happen with

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the Kings as we approach, not
approach, but as we get closer to

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the deadline in February. No,
it's a good question. I think.

293
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I think the Walton move is the
move you make before you start pulling those

294
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triggers. And I think Alvin Gentry
will get a chance first of all interim

295
00:19:10,240 --> 00:19:12,400
head coach. Extraordinary I've read today
this is the fourth time he's taken over

296
00:19:12,480 --> 00:19:19,880
a team. Just no better.
He's worked in some capacity for nearly every

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organization in the league at this point. Isn't that wild? He's I mean,

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he's like the ultimate journeyman. He's
been, he has been. It

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00:19:26,799 --> 00:19:30,440
feels like he's been everywhere in the
last five years. Like, let alone

300
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the preseason and he worlded David Griffin
for playing piano in Zion Williams's room for

301
00:19:34,359 --> 00:19:40,960
him, which didn't actually happen apparently, but it's so I think. I

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think interim head coach extraordinary Alvin Gentry
is gonna get I don't know, because

303
00:19:45,920 --> 00:19:48,359
the Kings are so fickle. He
might get like two weeks, three weeks,

304
00:19:48,480 --> 00:19:52,400
and like if things don't look markedly
different, then yeah, for sure.

305
00:19:52,440 --> 00:19:59,960
Because like Buddy Hill has been the
subject of trade talks for it really

306
00:20:00,039 --> 00:20:04,599
since he signed that contract. He's
been in New Orleans forever. Wasn't that

307
00:20:04,920 --> 00:20:08,200
actually traded to New Orleans? That
I can't remember that, I'll look it

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00:20:08,240 --> 00:20:11,000
up really good, but I'm pretty
Sureuddy he has just been part of the

309
00:20:11,079 --> 00:20:15,279
trade discourse before he was even in
the NBA. Well, I mean,

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if he was it makes sense because
it was his rookie year that he came

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00:20:18,640 --> 00:20:22,000
over in the Cousins deal. Uh
so, and then yeah, from from

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00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:25,480
from that point on it was it
was trade. Maybe there was like I

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00:20:25,559 --> 00:20:27,440
feel like there was a grace period
where Kings fans were excited about him with

314
00:20:27,640 --> 00:20:30,839
like midway through his rookie year,
because it's like he got this. He

315
00:20:30,880 --> 00:20:34,759
was not traded to the Pelicans.
They drafted him. So I overstated my

316
00:20:34,839 --> 00:20:40,400
position there. That's okay, every
nobody's gonna remember so him for sure,

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00:20:40,480 --> 00:20:44,480
Harrison Barnes all for sure. Holmes
could help a team that's trying to win

318
00:20:45,200 --> 00:20:48,480
or has a better chance of winning. I do think I laughed at this

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00:20:48,839 --> 00:20:53,799
when people were saying after the King's
picked Davion Mitchell that Fox might be on

320
00:20:53,799 --> 00:20:56,240
the way out, Like I just
thought that was ridiculous. I just thought

321
00:20:56,319 --> 00:21:00,960
they believed he was the best player
there and it made sense. And that's

322
00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:06,359
but now it's kind of like it's
a little plausible, I think, just

323
00:21:06,480 --> 00:21:10,720
because if you're really maybe so this
is again giving the Kings a lot of

324
00:21:10,759 --> 00:21:15,119
credit. If this is if this
is now Okay, we're tired of half

325
00:21:15,160 --> 00:21:18,559
measures. We are like we're stripping
this to the studs. We don't think

326
00:21:18,559 --> 00:21:22,920
Fox is a MAX player. That's
ath we made a mistake. We get

327
00:21:22,960 --> 00:21:25,960
you know there is going to be
an offer out there for him, Like

328
00:21:26,079 --> 00:21:29,160
might have been nice to get Ben
Simmons if that were possible a few months

329
00:21:29,160 --> 00:21:34,000
ago. But I think Fox is
possible. I think Healed Barnes to a

330
00:21:34,079 --> 00:21:38,359
lesser extent, homes are going to
be are probable like that they will be

331
00:21:38,359 --> 00:21:41,160
on different teams after the deadline.
I think that's how i'd frame it.

332
00:21:41,880 --> 00:21:45,480
I think if we had to rank
them, it feels like it'll be Barnes

333
00:21:45,599 --> 00:21:48,519
is most likely followed by Healed Holmes
and then Fox. I wouldn't be opposed

334
00:21:48,559 --> 00:21:52,680
to a Fox trade, I guess
I would. I still wouldn't move him

335
00:21:52,720 --> 00:21:56,920
for Ben Simmons. I don't know. I mean maybe, and the Celtics

336
00:21:56,920 --> 00:22:00,759
aren't going to offer you Jalen Brown, I think, And it would also

337
00:22:00,839 --> 00:22:03,240
like, what is your endgame at
that point? If you're moving Fox,

338
00:22:03,720 --> 00:22:06,920
I think you want the pick special. I don't think you want the player

339
00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:10,559
unless he's unless it's Shay Gil just
Alexander maybe, and even that is just

340
00:22:10,640 --> 00:22:12,720
like, well, he's on his
MAX deal too, he's he's super young,

341
00:22:12,799 --> 00:22:17,000
but how much closer does he bring
you to to winning? And so

342
00:22:17,039 --> 00:22:18,680
I think I would need like,
you know what if Oklahoma City decided they

343
00:22:18,720 --> 00:22:22,160
just want to pair Fox and che
Gilosaxander together and you can get giddy.

344
00:22:22,319 --> 00:22:26,880
Plus you know a few of their
trillion picks that they have. I'm just

345
00:22:26,039 --> 00:22:30,200
I haven't thought about Fox trade destinations
because I wouldn't move. I'm still so

346
00:22:30,319 --> 00:22:33,480
high one. But I think it
would need to be that situation because I

347
00:22:33,519 --> 00:22:37,319
think if you're moving Fox, wouldn't
the goal be to bottom out? I

348
00:22:37,319 --> 00:22:42,079
guess it depends on if there's another
star that becomes available. I what I'm

349
00:22:42,079 --> 00:22:48,799
curious is to whether anything nuclear goes
down with this iteration of the front office,

350
00:22:48,839 --> 00:22:51,880
because at this point, I know
this, this is McNair's first coaching

351
00:22:51,960 --> 00:22:55,119
higher, it still feels like we're
at the point where we're going to be

352
00:22:55,119 --> 00:22:57,160
looking at his body of work,
and so he is very much going to

353
00:22:57,240 --> 00:23:03,000
be like you know, exact giving
for his job. Yeah, although he's

354
00:23:03,079 --> 00:23:06,000
drafted well, I mean, he's
two good, two good drafts. I

355
00:23:06,039 --> 00:23:08,599
think I think he gets Halibert and
credit right because he was installed. Maybe

356
00:23:08,599 --> 00:23:11,640
I don't maybe I'm getting that wrong. But you know, I'm not getting

357
00:23:11,920 --> 00:23:15,440
a D box credit for Tyres Alibert. No, No, Martin. He

358
00:23:15,480 --> 00:23:22,160
gets credit for Badley. So that
would be the thing that I'm curious about,

359
00:23:22,160 --> 00:23:26,960
because I still think it's more likely. Is the way I'll frame this.

360
00:23:26,000 --> 00:23:30,119
I actually don't think they're gonna end
up doing anything nuclear. It feels

361
00:23:30,119 --> 00:23:33,480
like it's gonna be very much to
do about nothing like last year's trade deadline.

362
00:23:33,680 --> 00:23:37,480
I do feel like they're more likely
to go the Ben Simmons or Pascal

363
00:23:37,519 --> 00:23:44,799
Siakam route if Toronto decides to make
moves than they are to not only not

364
00:23:44,880 --> 00:23:48,240
even Fox, but I still think
they're more likely to go the we want

365
00:23:48,279 --> 00:23:52,559
to acquire a high impact win now
player than they are to even trade Harrison

366
00:23:52,599 --> 00:23:57,000
Barnes. That just and maybe that's
me just being subscribing too much to the

367
00:23:57,079 --> 00:24:03,559
King's manstra So you know, I
don't know, but to me, it

368
00:24:03,599 --> 00:24:07,599
feels like there's still I don't know
if anything's going to materially change in their

369
00:24:07,599 --> 00:24:11,279
direction while this front office is in
place. And maybe it's not even the

370
00:24:11,640 --> 00:24:15,119
fault of McNair, but it's just
you've now been there so long that I

371
00:24:15,119 --> 00:24:18,160
don't know if you're going to get
the opportunity to hit reset, And I

372
00:24:18,200 --> 00:24:22,000
do think they had the opportunity to
hit reset under McNair a couple of times.

373
00:24:22,000 --> 00:24:25,799
Now. They very easily could have
done it over this offseason. They

374
00:24:25,880 --> 00:24:29,119
very easily could have done it last
year's trade deadline. Yeah, you said

375
00:24:29,119 --> 00:24:33,000
it initially, They're just not like
they are poor self evaluators. They just

376
00:24:33,039 --> 00:24:37,720
didn't quite know where they were or
where it was reasonable to expect themselves to

377
00:24:37,759 --> 00:24:40,400
be. And now this is this
is what you get. Do you have

378
00:24:40,440 --> 00:24:44,200
anything less depressing that you want to
ask about the remainder of the season?

379
00:24:45,640 --> 00:24:49,599
The remainder of the season, I
don't know. I have a Western we're

380
00:24:49,680 --> 00:24:52,680
talking about the Western Conference. This
will switch gears a little bit, but

381
00:24:53,319 --> 00:24:59,440
I think that there are clearly three
top teams in the West right now.

382
00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:03,960
This will be on controversial it's Golden
State Phoenix in Utah. However, you

383
00:25:03,039 --> 00:25:07,480
want to look at a record net
rating just the general vibe, I mean,

384
00:25:07,519 --> 00:25:10,640
the Sons of One, what is
it? Is it thirteen in a

385
00:25:10,720 --> 00:25:15,519
row or is it ten? Record? This it'll probably be fourteen after Wednesday,

386
00:25:15,599 --> 00:25:18,839
would be yeah. So so the
Suns look every bit, you know,

387
00:25:18,960 --> 00:25:22,559
defending conference champs, the Warriors have
been great, the Jazz just are

388
00:25:22,640 --> 00:25:26,640
what they are. Who's the fourth
best team in the West? Because I

389
00:25:26,920 --> 00:25:29,440
have one, I think it is
and I think I talked them up last

390
00:25:29,480 --> 00:25:33,640
time, But there's like six teams
you could pick. Realistically, I just

391
00:25:33,680 --> 00:25:37,359
like, who is the other home
court advantage team in the West? And

392
00:25:37,640 --> 00:25:40,160
while you think about it, I'll
give you mine, and I think,

393
00:25:40,440 --> 00:25:42,359
and I don't feel great about it, but I kind of think it's the

394
00:25:42,400 --> 00:25:48,279
Clippers. And you decide to pick
the current fourth place team, you didn't

395
00:25:48,279 --> 00:25:52,079
even think, yeah, No.
I just looked at they have these things

396
00:25:52,079 --> 00:25:56,680
called the standings, and I was
like, who's behind those three teams there?

397
00:25:56,720 --> 00:26:00,720
They were? No. I I
because I think maybe one of the

398
00:26:00,759 --> 00:26:03,680
more logical answers would be are not
logical? But you could see someone saying

399
00:26:03,680 --> 00:26:07,720
the Lakers. You could see someone
saying, well, Denver or Dallas.

400
00:26:07,799 --> 00:26:11,079
I mean, you know Dallas in
theory, just as Luca's ankle sprain.

401
00:26:11,160 --> 00:26:14,119
It's not like they're dealing with Jamal
Murray and Michael Porter Jr. Being out

402
00:26:14,160 --> 00:26:18,319
forever like Denver is. So there's
there's some options. But I just some

403
00:26:18,480 --> 00:26:22,240
kind of in the bag for the
Clippers, and I'm I am one hundred

404
00:26:22,240 --> 00:26:27,119
percent here for the Paul George actually
is a number one option renaissance tour that

405
00:26:27,519 --> 00:26:30,160
seems to get it seems to have
been kind of put to bed over the

406
00:26:30,200 --> 00:26:33,759
last couple of years. I've want
to resurrect it. I think my answer

407
00:26:33,839 --> 00:26:37,599
would be the Nuggets if we didn't
have the news that Michael Porter Jr.

408
00:26:37,640 --> 00:26:44,000
Now maybe out for the season in
addition to Jomal Murray may be missing most

409
00:26:44,039 --> 00:26:47,880
of the season, and I just
it feels like they probably lack even with

410
00:26:47,880 --> 00:26:52,799
Wilbarton playing so amazing. The fact
that their bench is so beholden to is

411
00:26:52,920 --> 00:26:56,880
either you know, Bones Highland going
to go off and that's basically that's the

412
00:26:56,000 --> 00:27:00,680
question, or what yeah, or
what are the green the green green minutes

413
00:27:00,680 --> 00:27:04,359
look like? Defensively, when they're
gonna be your two bigs, it puts

414
00:27:04,359 --> 00:27:07,240
them in a really iffy proposition.
But Nicole Yokich is so good that it

415
00:27:07,240 --> 00:27:11,799
would not surprise me, so I
want to pick them. I will not

416
00:27:11,880 --> 00:27:15,680
pick the Mavericks because I just they
are like the most blah team over five

417
00:27:15,759 --> 00:27:18,920
hundreds to me for some reason,
I can't I can't explain it, and

418
00:27:18,960 --> 00:27:22,720
I'm not trying to. Maybe maybe
I'm just predisposed to dislike Jason Kidd.

419
00:27:22,880 --> 00:27:26,880
I won't apologize for that, but
I'm still gonna go with the Nuggets just

420
00:27:26,960 --> 00:27:30,480
because they've been so good on defense. I think Aaron Gordon is if you

421
00:27:30,559 --> 00:27:34,039
made an all defensive team right now, he would. I think he would

422
00:27:34,039 --> 00:27:37,240
make one of my two. I
haven't dug into it. He's been so

423
00:27:37,279 --> 00:27:41,000
good for them, and like he's
been defending point of attack stuff. He's

424
00:27:41,039 --> 00:27:44,599
been doing that for them since last
season. It's probably something he's done underrated

425
00:27:44,640 --> 00:27:47,880
for a lot of his career.
If they're gonna hold there, I have

426
00:27:47,920 --> 00:27:53,000
to imagine the offense reaches some sort
of stabilization and they're not like incapable of

427
00:27:53,039 --> 00:27:57,000
doing something. They do have you. You probably can't trade Will Barton at

428
00:27:57,000 --> 00:28:00,839
this point because you don't have Murray
or Michael Porter Jr. And you're not

429
00:28:00,920 --> 00:28:03,640
You just signed Gordon to an extension. I think it was such that he

430
00:28:03,680 --> 00:28:07,319
can still be moved. You're still
just not going to move him, but

431
00:28:07,359 --> 00:28:11,759
you can kind of between Monte Morris
and the Greens that them on their contracts.

432
00:28:11,000 --> 00:28:14,799
You can step ladder your way through
an Eric Gordon trade is something that

433
00:28:14,799 --> 00:28:18,359
I thought about for them. I
just I have a lot of faith in

434
00:28:18,400 --> 00:28:22,200
them after despite the struggles we've seen
from the bench. I think it's because

435
00:28:22,240 --> 00:28:27,200
of how good Nicole Yokich is and
just how I don't know if I want

436
00:28:27,200 --> 00:28:32,279
to use the word legitimate, but
I do think, and we're recording this,

437
00:28:32,319 --> 00:28:34,960
they've lost four in a row.
I think that their defense is going

438
00:28:34,960 --> 00:28:38,559
to finish marketaly better than LEE average, and that to me gives them a

439
00:28:38,599 --> 00:28:41,839
pathway beIN. As we record this, the Blazers have kind of perked up.

440
00:28:42,079 --> 00:28:45,640
I totally see where you're coming from
with the Clippers, and I don't

441
00:28:45,640 --> 00:28:48,799
know if you've dug into like the
Clippers defense. It's second in points allowed

442
00:28:48,799 --> 00:28:53,440
per possession. They opponents are just
shooting, and I thought Paul George has

443
00:28:53,440 --> 00:28:57,680
been pretty good on defense this year. They're shooting nine points better at the

444
00:28:57,759 --> 00:29:02,279
rim when he's on a court,
like ten points better from beyond the arc

445
00:29:02,640 --> 00:29:06,480
when he's on the court. I
haven't been able to figure out like what's

446
00:29:06,480 --> 00:29:10,720
happening there, but his defensive splits
are just wild, and I know that's

447
00:29:10,720 --> 00:29:12,799
a team wide thing. And so
you look at the lineups that he's in.

448
00:29:14,200 --> 00:29:18,319
I just don't see anything that it
should be just demonstrative of red flag

449
00:29:18,359 --> 00:29:21,920
for that. I just saw those
differentials, and there's I think when you

450
00:29:21,960 --> 00:29:25,160
see certain numbers, even those swings, you're like, oh, okay,

451
00:29:25,240 --> 00:29:29,079
you know, looking at Stephen Curry
and improving the Warriors affective field goal percentage

452
00:29:29,079 --> 00:29:32,119
by eight trillion points. Yeah,
yeah, that makes sense. But when

453
00:29:32,119 --> 00:29:36,920
you see that opponents are shooting like
so much better from basically every spot on

454
00:29:36,960 --> 00:29:38,799
the floor with Paul George in the
game, it's like, all right,

455
00:29:38,839 --> 00:29:42,640
well, maybe is it because they're
not starting Karen's man, Marcus Morris is

456
00:29:42,640 --> 00:29:47,119
only played in two games? Is
there something there? It's just very confusing.

457
00:29:47,640 --> 00:29:52,000
That's not a question unless you have
I will. I would say I'm

458
00:29:52,039 --> 00:29:55,559
always I think first of all,
we're still early enough in the year where

459
00:29:55,559 --> 00:30:00,839
opponent three point shooting that could just
skew a guy's entire on off, He'll

460
00:30:00,880 --> 00:30:04,400
have nothing to do with it,
you know, like to take another team

461
00:30:04,440 --> 00:30:08,240
to use Denver as an example.
Right now, if I've got cleaning the

462
00:30:08,319 --> 00:30:11,200
last updated to today, which I
think I do, as we're recording,

463
00:30:11,359 --> 00:30:15,559
so opponents are shooting thirty three percent
from deep against Denver, and that's the

464
00:30:15,559 --> 00:30:18,839
fifth lowest mark in the league.
They're shooting sixty eight point nine percent at

465
00:30:18,839 --> 00:30:22,079
the rim opponents are against Denver.
That's the worst mark in the league.

466
00:30:22,480 --> 00:30:26,799
So meaning that's not nobody nobody allows
opponents to finish better at the rim than

467
00:30:26,839 --> 00:30:30,640
Denver. So if we're talking about
Yo kitchen, so much has been made

468
00:30:30,640 --> 00:30:37,119
of as improved defense and stuff,
I got a role. I'm concerned with

469
00:30:37,200 --> 00:30:41,640
the at rim finishing of opponents.
And I think, and this is the

470
00:30:41,960 --> 00:30:45,319
caveat you throw in for every single
team, and I keep doing it,

471
00:30:45,359 --> 00:30:48,319
and I hate myself for it,
but I can't stop doing it until we're

472
00:30:48,359 --> 00:30:52,039
like halfway into the season. Opponents
are going to shoot better from deep against

473
00:30:52,039 --> 00:30:53,119
the Nuggets, in their defense is
going to get worse. Like that's just

474
00:30:53,440 --> 00:30:56,480
you know, we said it about
the Knicks last year and it kind of

475
00:30:56,519 --> 00:30:57,960
never happened, but it sort of
has this year. I think if I'm

476
00:30:59,039 --> 00:31:02,640
remembering what the numbers are, the
Clippers just feel a little steadier to me.

477
00:31:02,920 --> 00:31:06,759
But I think maybe to put a
bow on this, Like I was

478
00:31:06,799 --> 00:31:10,480
asked today, actually which conference is
better in the East or the West,

479
00:31:10,519 --> 00:31:12,839
And it's always been the West,
and now it's like we're struggling to find

480
00:31:12,880 --> 00:31:18,359
a fourth very good team and the
East, you know, Blake Milwaukee's out

481
00:31:18,400 --> 00:31:19,799
of the playoff picture I think right
now, for example, and the Sixers

482
00:31:19,839 --> 00:31:23,839
haven't been good. But like,
I think the East's way deeper with teams

483
00:31:23,880 --> 00:31:27,680
you could realistically envision, you know, making a conference final. The West

484
00:31:27,799 --> 00:31:33,720
is like suddenly crazy short on those
kind of teams. I just it's surprising

485
00:31:33,759 --> 00:31:36,839
as like sort of a macro thing
to look at, like we finally made

486
00:31:36,839 --> 00:31:40,079
it, Like we finally made it
to the point where the West is not

487
00:31:40,680 --> 00:31:45,400
clearly superior both in like top quality
and in debt. I still might prefer

488
00:31:45,440 --> 00:31:48,680
the top quality of the West,
just because Utah, Phoenix and Golden State,

489
00:31:49,200 --> 00:31:53,759
but yeah, the East is definitely
way deeper this year. And a

490
00:31:53,839 --> 00:31:57,279
quick and dirty look again at the
Paul George stuff, the Clippers are allowing

491
00:31:57,279 --> 00:32:01,599
opponents to shoot sub sixty percent overall
at the rim and sub thirty four percent

492
00:32:01,680 --> 00:32:06,440
from three Those are low enough marks
to where the swings kind of represent that

493
00:32:06,480 --> 00:32:10,279
you're working from this elite baseline.
And I'm sure every starting lineup member has

494
00:32:10,319 --> 00:32:14,480
been somewhat impacted by that. That's
a great question, though, So you

495
00:32:14,519 --> 00:32:17,960
have Clippers, I cautiously say the
Nuggets. I think the Clippers would probably

496
00:32:17,960 --> 00:32:21,400
be choice too. For me,
I don't have faith. And this is

497
00:32:21,440 --> 00:32:23,880
coming from someone who just assumed the
Lakers were gonna beat figure it out.

498
00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:28,240
I don't. I don't even have
a question for them. There's no we

499
00:32:28,279 --> 00:32:30,759
want to know what's going to happen, but I don't know that you can

500
00:32:30,799 --> 00:32:34,240
expect it to get that much better. I mean, we've seen the lineups

501
00:32:34,240 --> 00:32:37,759
with Lebron russ Ad and then no
bigs have done really well. Are they

502
00:32:37,759 --> 00:32:40,440
going to be healthy enough to sustain
that? Did they have the personnel to

503
00:32:40,480 --> 00:32:44,400
sustain that? What does the defense
look like? Wrong term? I just

504
00:32:44,440 --> 00:32:49,480
have zero faith in the Lakers is
my point right now. And I predicted

505
00:32:49,519 --> 00:32:51,759
that they would hit their over I
think they were at fifty three point five

506
00:32:51,759 --> 00:32:52,680
wins this year. I said they
were going to get to at least fifty

507
00:32:52,680 --> 00:32:57,039
four. I guess they are the
team, though I guess you would look

508
00:32:57,039 --> 00:32:59,000
at as how many times am I
going to say I guess, well,

509
00:32:59,000 --> 00:33:02,920
I make this point that maybe could
sneak into that, because it doesn't.

510
00:33:04,319 --> 00:33:06,880
It feels open ended. But also
if you told me it was Dallas that

511
00:33:07,000 --> 00:33:10,440
was fourth or the Blazers, I
might feel like it was a stretch.

512
00:33:12,160 --> 00:33:15,640
Maybe not. I don't know,
No, I mean I don't really have

513
00:33:15,519 --> 00:33:22,240
an overarching thought or question for the
Lakers either, but like it feels so

514
00:33:22,319 --> 00:33:28,079
I've been kind of harping on this, and so Lebron's average shot distance,

515
00:33:28,119 --> 00:33:30,799
have you been like, have you
seen this reference? You know, this

516
00:33:30,880 --> 00:33:36,079
year as an indicator of his decline
that's like finally really happening. His average

517
00:33:36,160 --> 00:33:39,319
his average shot distance is fifteen point
two feet. It was thirteen nine last

518
00:33:39,359 --> 00:33:43,640
year, twelve nine, the year
before twelve three, the year before ten

519
00:33:43,799 --> 00:33:46,400
nine. So obviously we're trending up. And he's never had anything over fourteen,

520
00:33:46,480 --> 00:33:50,559
let alone a fifteen feet. He's
taking half the shots from three,

521
00:33:50,640 --> 00:33:54,480
which has never happened before. Let
me make sure that's exactly correct. Anyway,

522
00:33:54,519 --> 00:33:59,200
he's taking the highest share of shots
from deep that he ever has,

523
00:34:00,440 --> 00:34:04,759
and you're seeing I don't know if
this is just my Twitter silo or if

524
00:34:04,799 --> 00:34:08,000
it's gotten into yours too. Ours
can't be that different. There's these clips

525
00:34:08,000 --> 00:34:13,599
of him just not finishing at the
rim, like getting you know, having

526
00:34:13,679 --> 00:34:17,800
his being deterred or not elevating.
There's just all the all the decline in

527
00:34:17,840 --> 00:34:22,360
athleticism stuff. All the signs are
there, like visually and statistically. And

528
00:34:22,440 --> 00:34:25,599
so while I want to pick the
Lakers as a team, that's like,

529
00:34:25,679 --> 00:34:29,480
yeah, they'll just I mean,
Lebron will figure it out. It's happened

530
00:34:29,519 --> 00:34:35,079
every year for twenty years. They
have Anthony Davis, They'll they'll somehow go

531
00:34:35,159 --> 00:34:38,400
get a wing. Well, they'll
figure out how to use Russell Westbrook as

532
00:34:38,400 --> 00:34:44,280
like a pick and roll big man
or something. The Lebron decline, which

533
00:34:44,320 --> 00:34:49,920
is it's like it's real, It's
finally really happening in demonstrable ways like that

534
00:34:50,000 --> 00:34:53,960
kind of rules. That puts a
big dent in you know, feeling confident

535
00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:58,480
about putting them up. You know, in that consideration, I don't think

536
00:34:58,880 --> 00:35:02,000
like I could go probably six teams
deep I think in the West before I

537
00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:06,440
would get to the Lakers, you
know, in that hierarchy, just just

538
00:35:06,480 --> 00:35:07,920
based on right now, because you
know, maybe they will figure it out.

539
00:35:07,960 --> 00:35:13,719
But I'm less optimistic than usual about
them and these that's not a hot

540
00:35:13,760 --> 00:35:15,840
take, is Howard? Nothing?
You said they are spicy, Yeah,

541
00:35:15,960 --> 00:35:20,119
common sal and like it had to
happen eventually, right, But it's just

542
00:35:20,159 --> 00:35:23,159
we thought the Lebron declimb would happen
seven years ago. It's just it just

543
00:35:23,199 --> 00:35:28,000
had to happen eventually. I'm still
hopeful that maybe he'll just be fine,

544
00:35:28,079 --> 00:35:30,840
but he's gonna turn thirty seven in
December. I don't know it was it's

545
00:35:30,880 --> 00:35:35,559
going to happen if it hasn't happened
already. I have a similar question here

546
00:35:35,679 --> 00:35:39,800
to what yours was for the West. Who are going to be the six

547
00:35:39,880 --> 00:35:45,639
playoff teams in the Eastern Conference like
the six non playing playoff teams in the

548
00:35:45,639 --> 00:35:51,360
East, Because as just we record
this right now, only five games separate

549
00:35:52,480 --> 00:35:55,920
thirteenth place in the five and a
half thirteenth place in the East from first

550
00:35:55,920 --> 00:35:59,440
place in the East, and so
there's some level of egregiousness there where it's

551
00:35:59,480 --> 00:36:04,480
no the eight eleven Pacers are not
going to catch the top seeded Brooklyn Nets.

552
00:36:04,480 --> 00:36:10,880
Just at the same time, there
might be what two to three formalities

553
00:36:12,239 --> 00:36:15,639
in that top six of the East
who so who are you going to pencil

554
00:36:15,719 --> 00:36:17,079
it as the top six? And
you don't even have to give me the

555
00:36:17,159 --> 00:36:20,480
order, but who are going to
be your top six in the East.

556
00:36:20,920 --> 00:36:24,440
So my top four I feel pretty
good about, which are Brooklyn, Milwaukee,

557
00:36:25,239 --> 00:36:31,119
Philly, and Miami. I probably
feel the least good about Philly,

558
00:36:31,280 --> 00:36:36,920
just because, I mean, although
the offense somehow stays incredible with and beat

559
00:36:36,920 --> 00:36:39,840
out, I don't understand how it's
happening. Tyrese Maxie is a superhero.

560
00:36:42,360 --> 00:36:45,400
And then my fifth in that group
is the Bulls, and that will probably

561
00:36:45,400 --> 00:36:49,840
come as a surprise to anybody that
heard us talk about the Bulls at any

562
00:36:49,840 --> 00:36:54,159
point over the off season or for
the last like two years, but they

563
00:36:54,199 --> 00:37:00,519
feel pretty legit. The six team
is really hard and for me, I

564
00:37:00,639 --> 00:37:07,400
look at my candidates are Atlanta and
New York and Boston, which is that's

565
00:37:07,440 --> 00:37:12,719
a lot of shade at the Wizards. But I'm gonna need a little longer.

566
00:37:12,800 --> 00:37:15,159
I'm gonna need a little more before
I believe that that's real. So

567
00:37:15,400 --> 00:37:20,760
against my better judgment, and maybe
because we spend a lot of time the

568
00:37:20,840 --> 00:37:23,039
last time we talked saying the Hawks
were maybe the second best team in the

569
00:37:23,039 --> 00:37:25,719
conference, I'm gonna stick to that
and I'm gonna say the Hawks are gonna

570
00:37:25,719 --> 00:37:30,159
be a top six team in the
East. But that's that defense has to

571
00:37:30,159 --> 00:37:32,320
get a lot better for that to
happen, even though I think they've won

572
00:37:32,519 --> 00:37:36,440
four or five in a row.
So that's my top six. Do you

573
00:37:36,519 --> 00:37:42,000
have anybody different? I have five
that I've penziled in Brooklyn, Miami,

574
00:37:42,320 --> 00:37:46,719
Atlanta is still one of mine,
Milwaukee, and then I have Chicago because

575
00:37:46,760 --> 00:37:52,199
maybe I'm just doing too much of
the walk back since I was so critical

576
00:37:52,239 --> 00:37:58,039
of them over the off season.
But they're at least when you look at

577
00:37:58,119 --> 00:38:00,480
defensively, they are exhaustive. You
just when you look at how they're guarding

578
00:38:00,519 --> 00:38:06,519
the perimeter, and so just between
Caruso and Ball, Javonte Green being there,

579
00:38:06,960 --> 00:38:08,960
They've people have mentioned this ad nauseum, but I'm pretty sure Derek Jones

580
00:38:09,039 --> 00:38:13,079
Jr. Hasn't finished more plays as
the role man this season than he hasn't

581
00:38:13,079 --> 00:38:15,480
like his entire career combined in the
pre seasons. I've not checked that.

582
00:38:15,559 --> 00:38:20,599
But so they've just found a way
to win. In spite of the Patrick

583
00:38:20,639 --> 00:38:23,280
Williams injury, in spite of Kobe
White I'm making his season's debut until forever.

584
00:38:23,639 --> 00:38:28,679
In spite of Nicola Foutfitz entering these
health and safety protocols then also not

585
00:38:28,760 --> 00:38:32,039
hitting shots when he's playing, and
I do, as many have pointed out,

586
00:38:32,320 --> 00:38:36,119
there's a chance that demarda Rozen regresses
because when you look at what he's

587
00:38:36,159 --> 00:38:39,679
done offensively, can this hold for
the entire season. We've seen other players

588
00:38:39,760 --> 00:38:44,079
offensive efficiency go down with the new
officiating, and I know his game was

589
00:38:44,119 --> 00:38:47,800
never conducive to a certain necessarily style
of getting calls, but like his efficiency

590
00:38:47,840 --> 00:38:51,039
has gone up, and so just
at his age, the stage of his

591
00:38:51,119 --> 00:38:53,119
career, that seems like a red
flag. At the same time, the

592
00:38:53,159 --> 00:38:59,159
Bowls have the ability to shoot better
from three and then if vouch when he's

593
00:38:59,199 --> 00:39:00,840
if he's going to be held and
shoot better, that's another level that they

594
00:39:00,880 --> 00:39:04,960
can get to. There's still moves
that they can make at the trade deadline,

595
00:39:05,039 --> 00:39:07,880
like maybe you spice up your center
rotation a little bit, Can you

596
00:39:07,920 --> 00:39:10,960
pick up a wing at all?
I don't I don't know. I'm just

597
00:39:12,000 --> 00:39:15,760
gonna put my faith in them.
The sixth team is so hard. It's

598
00:39:15,800 --> 00:39:19,679
between the Knicks, Boston and Washington. For me, I don't think Philly's

599
00:39:19,719 --> 00:39:22,960
gonna get there. They're they're cute, they're quaint. They've just had so

600
00:39:23,000 --> 00:39:27,320
many different and a lot of it. You know, the players in the

601
00:39:27,360 --> 00:39:30,559
league health and safety protocols. How
many games is Joel and b going to

602
00:39:30,599 --> 00:39:32,880
play in? Can we count on
Seth Carry to be in the most improved

603
00:39:32,880 --> 00:39:37,079
player conversation? Maxie feels he's been
so good, but can he maintain this

604
00:39:37,159 --> 00:39:40,599
for the whole level of the season. I think, and maybe this is

605
00:39:40,639 --> 00:39:45,840
me getting drunk on the early season
returns, I think I'm putting Washington in

606
00:39:45,880 --> 00:39:52,199
there. Their defensive progression feels real, and they've done it their success overall

607
00:39:52,199 --> 00:39:57,599
this season. They've done it without
Ruby Hachimura or Thomas Bryant, and then

608
00:39:57,639 --> 00:40:00,239
Damas Burton's was both terrible and is
currently not playing. I think he has

609
00:40:00,239 --> 00:40:06,280
an ankle injury well, and Bial
was not good for their offense. Weeks

610
00:40:06,280 --> 00:40:12,400
frighteningly average. They should be better
than average, and I think we didn't.

611
00:40:12,559 --> 00:40:15,039
Neither of us mentioned the Hornets,
by the way, who aren't currently

612
00:40:15,039 --> 00:40:19,119
in the top six. Their defense
sucks. Their defense is not close to

613
00:40:19,159 --> 00:40:21,880
good enough. That's I love.
They're one of my favorite teams to watch

614
00:40:21,880 --> 00:40:24,000
this year. I think I probably
watched as much of them as almost any

615
00:40:24,480 --> 00:40:30,719
non Golden State team. But they
just like they if they if they are

616
00:40:30,440 --> 00:40:34,199
not in the bottom ten defensively at
the end of the year, I'll be

617
00:40:34,559 --> 00:40:39,440
very surprised they just don't. They
just don't have the personnel that That's why

618
00:40:39,480 --> 00:40:42,719
I don't have them in there.
Yeah, they're sitting fifth right now.

619
00:40:43,440 --> 00:40:46,480
It just seems so stupid to exclude. To not pick the Knicks feels weird.

620
00:40:46,840 --> 00:40:50,440
They eventually have to. I know, they beat the Lakers after almost

621
00:40:50,440 --> 00:40:53,239
blowing a huge lead, they have
to do something about the starting lineup.

622
00:40:53,599 --> 00:40:58,400
I don't. I don't. Their
offense is well above average this year,

623
00:40:58,480 --> 00:41:01,719
but it just still feels like are
not great on that end, and they

624
00:41:01,760 --> 00:41:06,159
have sacrificed on the defensive end,
in part because opponents are hitting a higher

625
00:41:06,199 --> 00:41:09,199
clip of their threes. Something just
feels off in New York. I don't

626
00:41:09,199 --> 00:41:13,119
think they're bad. I'm not dumping
all over. I'm not saying they should

627
00:41:13,119 --> 00:41:15,480
blow it up. Maybe I'm like
ten days away from doing that, as

628
00:41:15,519 --> 00:41:21,480
the Knicks fan in me freaks out
over every single loss, but something feels

629
00:41:21,519 --> 00:41:23,480
off there. Ditto with Boston.
Maybe now that Jalon Brown is back,

630
00:41:23,480 --> 00:41:27,400
they'll settle into a groove. Their
defense, even though I feel like they

631
00:41:27,400 --> 00:41:30,519
switched too much, has been great
this season. Marcus smart is just he's

632
00:41:30,559 --> 00:41:34,039
a beast. It'd be nice if
he hit more shots, of course,

633
00:41:35,400 --> 00:41:38,400
and then even like I feel weird, they've been bad and disappointing, even

634
00:41:38,400 --> 00:41:43,960
when you cake in the injuries,
like Indiana has a lot of quality players

635
00:41:44,000 --> 00:41:46,320
on the roster, and so it's
just hashing out the top six. And

636
00:41:46,480 --> 00:41:49,599
even if I told you to hash
out the top ten where you only had

637
00:41:49,599 --> 00:41:53,000
to exclude two or was it three
of these teams, it still just gets

638
00:41:53,039 --> 00:41:55,960
like, you know, if it's
Atlanta in Indiana, or let's say it's

639
00:41:55,960 --> 00:42:00,719
Cleveland and Indiana, that maybe you
feel good about leaving those two the outskirts

640
00:42:00,719 --> 00:42:04,880
of that conversation, but do you
really Yeah, that's the thing, Like

641
00:42:05,000 --> 00:42:07,000
I mean, so just looking at
it now as you were talking, I

642
00:42:07,039 --> 00:42:12,599
was thinking, like, there's like
I like Atlanta and Toronto and Indie and

643
00:42:12,639 --> 00:42:15,000
they're all outside the top they're all
out of the plan right now. Like

644
00:42:15,199 --> 00:42:21,360
so as you assume, certainly Atlanta
has to get back into that into that

645
00:42:21,440 --> 00:42:23,800
top ten, top six, I
think for both of us. But who's

646
00:42:23,800 --> 00:42:28,559
getting kicked out? And I think
Charlotte probably is one of the most likely

647
00:42:28,599 --> 00:42:32,960
candidates. Cleveland. I love Cleveland, but they Cleveland might be like a

648
00:42:34,000 --> 00:42:37,320
for real five hundred team. It's
just Sexton's out for the year. It

649
00:42:37,320 --> 00:42:39,559
feels like injuries are going to catch
up with them. How well are they

650
00:42:39,559 --> 00:42:44,800
going to play during this stretch without
Mobile and even Marketing still out. I

651
00:42:44,880 --> 00:42:47,639
still don't necessarily have a ton of
faith in the three big lineup, even

652
00:42:47,639 --> 00:42:51,519
if Allen and Mobley make a lot
of sense. And the other thing is

653
00:42:51,559 --> 00:42:54,800
just once Mobile comes back, is
there a rookie wall here at all,

654
00:42:54,840 --> 00:42:59,880
because that's a real thing, like
elite rookies have tapered off in the past.

655
00:43:00,079 --> 00:43:05,079
Maybe there's not, but man,
they've been so Garland has made strides.

656
00:43:05,519 --> 00:43:08,960
Garland is really good. Garland is
really good on Benny Osman's hitting off

657
00:43:09,000 --> 00:43:14,280
the dribble threes. Ricky Rubio has
been just great as a studying hand,

658
00:43:14,280 --> 00:43:19,039
and he's even hit some difficult threes
for some reason I done in one game

659
00:43:19,079 --> 00:43:22,199
I think if I remember against the
Knicks, that apparently keeps on giving.

660
00:43:22,320 --> 00:43:28,800
And they've also played a really tough
schedule, which matters because eventually that will

661
00:43:28,800 --> 00:43:30,519
all even out as we get later
to the year. But they've played among

662
00:43:30,559 --> 00:43:34,440
the harder schedules, So don't want
to write them out completely. But I

663
00:43:34,480 --> 00:43:39,360
do think eventually the injuries and just
the youth will catch up with them a

664
00:43:39,400 --> 00:43:44,360
little bit. Yeah, I agree. The funny thing is, so if

665
00:43:44,400 --> 00:43:46,519
you think Indiana is going to get
in there and maybe Toronto and Atlanta,

666
00:43:47,280 --> 00:43:51,599
I keep looking at Washington as the
team that's gonna fall out, and I

667
00:43:51,679 --> 00:43:54,079
just maybe I need to watch them
more. I don't know, Like,

668
00:43:54,199 --> 00:43:59,679
I definitely am receptive to the idea
of if you trade like a negative player

669
00:43:59,760 --> 00:44:02,400
kind and Russ and you get back
like half of a rotation's worth of like

670
00:44:02,599 --> 00:44:08,840
decent to above average NBA basketball players
and your team gets better and like you've

671
00:44:08,840 --> 00:44:12,639
added. I don't know, So
I just need to be convinced by the

672
00:44:12,639 --> 00:44:15,480
Wizards. But yeah, the East
is like, honestly more compelling. I

673
00:44:15,519 --> 00:44:19,679
think for all of these like we
don't know, we don't know who the

674
00:44:19,719 --> 00:44:22,199
best four, who the best six, who the best ten teams are?

675
00:44:22,239 --> 00:44:25,800
It's great. Do you have another
one? Any other questions? Oh,

676
00:44:25,880 --> 00:44:30,519
let's see, I say that we've
only done like four questions because that's how

677
00:44:30,559 --> 00:44:35,199
we roll, Because we spent thirty
seven of those minutes on the Kings,

678
00:44:35,239 --> 00:44:38,960
just because that's what gets that's what
gets all the people come to this podcast.

679
00:44:39,039 --> 00:44:44,840
This is an Mr Slash hybrid Sacramento
Kings podcast. I have an open

680
00:44:44,960 --> 00:44:47,079
ended one for you, and this
will put you on the spot because I

681
00:44:47,079 --> 00:44:50,599
don't know what my answer is.
Do you have a favorite player to watch

682
00:44:50,639 --> 00:44:52,639
so far this year? Like someone
you know? Not like I think Janice

683
00:44:52,719 --> 00:44:55,840
is good, you know, but
like not Steph. Is there someone that

684
00:44:57,360 --> 00:45:01,360
you've watched more this year that you're
like, you know, you find yourself

685
00:45:01,400 --> 00:45:04,599
clicking through League Pass and it's like, I don't really care about this team,

686
00:45:04,599 --> 00:45:07,119
I just want to watch this guy
play. Yeah, Frank Nilikina has

687
00:45:07,119 --> 00:45:16,000
been Dallas's best offseason addition, that's
actually not so that is true? That

688
00:45:19,320 --> 00:45:22,119
funny because you mean it comes from
the heart. I love it. So

689
00:45:22,440 --> 00:45:29,760
these are I still think I'm I'm
skewed by just larger body of works on

690
00:45:29,840 --> 00:45:31,480
the past. Step is my favorite
player to watch, maybe of all time,

691
00:45:31,559 --> 00:45:35,760
and it just remains that way now. So he's still someone I chopped

692
00:45:35,880 --> 00:45:40,719
in this season, and I feel
like I've grown more appreciative of how he

693
00:45:40,760 --> 00:45:45,119
plays with each passing year. I
really enjoy watching Devin Booker. There are

694
00:45:45,159 --> 00:45:47,840
just wrinkles to his game. That
I feel like I fall in love with

695
00:45:47,880 --> 00:45:52,719
more and more. Last year it
was just like the manipulation as as a

696
00:45:52,760 --> 00:45:55,719
playmaker, the reads he's making,
how he keeps defenses on their toes,

697
00:45:55,800 --> 00:45:59,280
his ability to get got you.
When he's snaking picking rolls, it will

698
00:45:59,280 --> 00:46:01,840
get guys on his back. Hip. This year, I'm just like noticing

699
00:46:01,920 --> 00:46:07,000
his open floor acceleration feels underrated.
His movement off the ball feels really underrated.

700
00:46:07,760 --> 00:46:12,559
This is just a you can quibble
over whether you think Chris Paul is

701
00:46:12,599 --> 00:46:15,000
more important to Phoenix's success. He
doesn't turn the ball over, he shoots

702
00:46:16,199 --> 00:46:20,119
in the fourth quarter, so there's
there's an argument can be made there.

703
00:46:20,320 --> 00:46:27,079
But Devin Booker is just I'm still
not sure we as at the NBA media

704
00:46:27,079 --> 00:46:31,159
outside of Phoenix, understand just how
valuable Devin Booker is just by being on

705
00:46:31,199 --> 00:46:34,440
the floor even when he doesn't have
the ball in his hands. And I

706
00:46:34,480 --> 00:46:37,599
think his off ball movement threat level
and just the again, it is his

707
00:46:37,679 --> 00:46:39,719
acceleration where it's like he's not you
don't look at him sometimes and think he

708
00:46:39,760 --> 00:46:45,119
plays particularly fast and the Suns are
not trying to play exceedingly fast. But

709
00:46:45,119 --> 00:46:46,840
if you put him in the open
floor, or if you give him space

710
00:46:47,280 --> 00:46:51,079
in the half court, on the
ball or off the ball, like he

711
00:46:51,119 --> 00:46:54,679
can change speeds so quickly and effectively. And so that's just someone as I've

712
00:46:54,679 --> 00:47:00,599
continued to chop her into, I've
really enjoyed someone else will saying that,

713
00:47:00,599 --> 00:47:02,239
and I think this has got to
be low hanging fruit at this point.

714
00:47:02,239 --> 00:47:07,159
Evan Mobley my god, and maybe
the shock factor there because I was not

715
00:47:07,239 --> 00:47:10,400
super high on him coming out of
college, and again I was not a

716
00:47:10,480 --> 00:47:14,639
draft expert. I also feel like
maybe I subscribe too much the idea of

717
00:47:15,000 --> 00:47:17,159
why are we using this high pick
on a big who doesn't isn't supposed to

718
00:47:17,159 --> 00:47:22,000
stretch the floor right away? I
had nothing, I watched, nothing I

719
00:47:22,079 --> 00:47:24,480
read, Maybe I didn't read enough
ever prepared me for what he was going

720
00:47:24,519 --> 00:47:28,480
to be like defensively, and I
think Summer League prepared me for his playmaking

721
00:47:28,519 --> 00:47:31,159
a little bit. But even that
has just been revelatory. And he's one

722
00:47:31,159 --> 00:47:35,960
of the him and Jared Allen together
too to see like these, especially at

723
00:47:36,039 --> 00:47:38,400
Jared Allen where I can't. I
think it was justin rowing of the Chasetown

724
00:47:38,440 --> 00:47:44,199
podcast made this point because the way
fouls are being called have changed. It

725
00:47:44,199 --> 00:47:50,199
feels like screeners are becoming more important
since we were at a point where James

726
00:47:50,199 --> 00:47:52,519
Harden, like the Rockets when he
was in Houston, they didn't even have

727
00:47:52,559 --> 00:47:54,320
when they had clickupell was just like, you know, hang out on the

728
00:47:54,360 --> 00:47:59,039
dunker spot, don't set screens because
they didn't go and then go away forever.

729
00:47:59,119 --> 00:48:04,280
So so those are three guys.
Steph is always just going to be

730
00:48:04,360 --> 00:48:07,440
up there for me. I and
I love watching so many players, but

731
00:48:07,440 --> 00:48:10,559
Steph is just it doesn't matter who
he's playing, who's playing around him.

732
00:48:10,679 --> 00:48:15,280
It doesn't matter to me whether the
Warriors are winning by a lot losing by

733
00:48:15,280 --> 00:48:19,840
a lot in a close game.
He's just infinitely watchable. Yeah, full

734
00:48:20,239 --> 00:48:23,239
agree. I love I love the
Mobili pick I definitely if the calves are

735
00:48:23,280 --> 00:48:27,519
available. And now I'm not gonna
be watching him till he's back. But

736
00:48:28,519 --> 00:48:31,760
my my deep cut, my deep
deep cut is Herb Jones on the Pelicans.

737
00:48:31,920 --> 00:48:35,639
Now, if you've never watched the
Pelicans, like, good for you,

738
00:48:35,760 --> 00:48:38,960
Like you shouldn't be watching them yet, but this guy is like I.

739
00:48:39,119 --> 00:48:43,239
You know, we still don't have
the metrics to measure this, but

740
00:48:43,719 --> 00:48:46,199
you know, are definitively but like
on the ball, I just there are

741
00:48:46,239 --> 00:48:50,199
not a lot of guys that cause
as much trouble as he does. There's

742
00:48:50,239 --> 00:48:54,719
clips out there of him like stealing
twice from I think it's Tyler Hero just

743
00:48:54,840 --> 00:48:59,719
ripping him on consecutive possessions, and
then he blocked up Paul George three and

744
00:48:59,760 --> 00:49:06,440
like high leverage moment the other day. He's he's just like just a phenomenal

745
00:49:06,480 --> 00:49:09,159
defender that if he could hit a
three, I think he's I think I

746
00:49:09,199 --> 00:49:13,880
saw the stat today. He's five
of sixteen on threes this year. Uh

747
00:49:13,920 --> 00:49:16,079
in whatever, you know, he's
taking one a game basically. But you

748
00:49:16,119 --> 00:49:22,079
could almost not draw up a better
compliment for a brandon ingram Zion Williamson core

749
00:49:22,480 --> 00:49:27,039
than a dude who can guard every
position at an all defensive team, all

750
00:49:27,079 --> 00:49:30,679
defensive team level and like maybe make
thirty seven percent of his open threes.

751
00:49:30,800 --> 00:49:35,159
Like that's just your guy, that's
that's unique. So that's my my deep

752
00:49:35,199 --> 00:49:39,119
cut, kind of in line with
your Devin Booker thing E's zac Lavine For

753
00:49:39,159 --> 00:49:45,519
me, I was super late.
I was a zach Lavine denier forever.

754
00:49:45,639 --> 00:49:51,639
I just thought, like than a
COVID nineteen and I are just a little

755
00:49:51,719 --> 00:49:54,119
yeah, like a little in terms
of republic from a public health standpoint,

756
00:49:54,159 --> 00:49:59,840
like a little bit. He's just
so there's really not an offensive skill that

757
00:49:59,840 --> 00:50:02,039
he doesn't have at like a B
plus level at worst, you know,

758
00:50:02,320 --> 00:50:07,079
like his pull up threes are super
quick, super accurate, a plus plus

759
00:50:07,079 --> 00:50:12,800
plus at everything. He I used
to ding him because it was he seemed

760
00:50:12,840 --> 00:50:15,719
like a guy that he had assist
numbers, but you know, it wasn't

761
00:50:15,719 --> 00:50:22,119
ever something that seemed like it seemed
like bad assists or bad team assists.

762
00:50:22,119 --> 00:50:23,280
You know, like he's got the
ball all the time and he's driving into

763
00:50:23,320 --> 00:50:27,679
three guys and throws it out and
someone hits the shot. I think I

764
00:50:27,719 --> 00:50:30,280
was wrong about that. I think
I was wrong about him being terrible defensively,

765
00:50:30,440 --> 00:50:34,119
like he's trying harder. It seems
the last couple of years that's been

766
00:50:34,159 --> 00:50:37,559
a trend. So I just,
yeah, this is gonna be like my

767
00:50:37,599 --> 00:50:42,840
Bulls apology tour, because Zach Lavine's
really really good. I have nothing bad

768
00:50:42,840 --> 00:50:45,000
to say about him anymore, and
the Bulls are good. So those are

769
00:50:45,039 --> 00:50:49,480
those are my my my top liners
Lavine and my obviously, like I do

770
00:50:49,639 --> 00:50:52,400
have to say John Morant too,
because I feel like John Moranta's Seven physically

771
00:50:52,400 --> 00:50:57,760
Impossible Things, some of which are
not baskets. You know, every night

772
00:50:57,920 --> 00:51:01,559
he's reached like a Steph Curry level
or the tier below of just have to

773
00:51:01,559 --> 00:51:05,800
watch and you're right, like highlights
of Missus just duncans. What do they

774
00:51:05,840 --> 00:51:08,559
call the Missus? Dunk attempts are
highlights. It's not dumb, it's dunk

775
00:51:08,599 --> 00:51:13,440
attempts. He's the best dunk misser
of all time. There's never been anybody

776
00:51:13,440 --> 00:51:15,519
better at missing dunks than him.
My deep cut, by the way,

777
00:51:15,519 --> 00:51:19,679
would be the Orlando Magic starting five, and if I had to narrow it

778
00:51:19,719 --> 00:51:22,719
down from there, it'd be either
col Anthony or Franz Wagner. They've been

779
00:51:22,039 --> 00:51:25,039
that. That lineup, by the
way, with Jalen Suggs struggling, has

780
00:51:25,079 --> 00:51:29,679
pummeled opponents this season. But just
Wendell Carter Junior looking at the basket,

781
00:51:29,800 --> 00:51:32,880
hitting threes, making quicker decisions.
Mo Bambas looked like an NBA player for

782
00:51:34,000 --> 00:51:37,119
much of this season. Cole Anthony
has some serious juice off the dribble,

783
00:51:37,840 --> 00:51:42,360
friends, Wagner is he has more
and I think I said this on the

784
00:51:42,360 --> 00:51:45,519
podcast, more fuck you to his
game than I ever really imagine dudes will

785
00:51:45,559 --> 00:51:50,559
bounce off his shoulder. He had
this like driving barreling dunk against the Knicks

786
00:51:50,599 --> 00:51:52,320
a couple of weeks ago. And
if Orlando's only played the Knicks, they

787
00:51:52,320 --> 00:51:58,639
would probably be a championship contender.
So they've they've been. They get tough

788
00:51:58,679 --> 00:52:01,400
to watch on some nights at their
level of bad because when you look at

789
00:52:01,440 --> 00:52:06,679
Houston and even when you look at
I'm trying to think of another, Detroit

790
00:52:07,239 --> 00:52:09,360
is right there, and I think
we're at the point now. Houston Detroit,

791
00:52:09,400 --> 00:52:14,440
like, those are not teams that
I necessarily want to, you know,

792
00:52:15,719 --> 00:52:20,039
watch regularly, even the Pelicans.
I'll watch Orlando regularly still because they

793
00:52:20,079 --> 00:52:22,840
have not That lineup is fun.
Whyn't you take that lineup off the court?

794
00:52:22,840 --> 00:52:24,920
You're probably switching chants though, right, it's easy to be It's much

795
00:52:24,960 --> 00:52:29,639
easier to be optimistic about Orlando than
some of those other teams you mentioned,

796
00:52:29,639 --> 00:52:31,960
just because it does seem like they
have a handful of guys or like there's

797
00:52:31,960 --> 00:52:37,760
something there's something there, you know, like Wagner just like has there ever

798
00:52:37,800 --> 00:52:42,039
been a rookie that arrived more like, you know, as advertised, Like

799
00:52:42,159 --> 00:52:45,039
his whole thing was he's gonna fit
in. He's gonna make some make make

800
00:52:45,119 --> 00:52:47,639
some threes. He's got a little
off the dribble. He's not gonna be

801
00:52:47,639 --> 00:52:51,719
a star, but he's gonna be
awesome as like your third or fourth best

802
00:52:51,719 --> 00:52:53,639
player. And he's already that.
Like he's just he's stepped into the league

803
00:52:53,920 --> 00:52:58,239
and he's just sort of good at
everything. He's a perfect role player.

804
00:52:58,559 --> 00:53:00,840
This, meanwhile, comes after a
summer league performance in which they had to

805
00:53:00,880 --> 00:53:05,559
replace the rims after every quarter in
which he played because he was just bonking

806
00:53:05,639 --> 00:53:09,519
so many shots. Right, Yeah, he's he's a He's the type of

807
00:53:09,519 --> 00:53:13,039
guy that, like you're like,
god, damn it, I don't want

808
00:53:13,039 --> 00:53:15,719
to take him, you know,
in the top ten because he's the upside

809
00:53:15,760 --> 00:53:17,800
just doesn't quite seem to be.
Maybe we're wrong about that, but uh

810
00:53:19,199 --> 00:53:21,320
but boys, he slid. If
he were, I mean, he could

811
00:53:21,320 --> 00:53:24,639
play twenty five thirty minutes for like
almost you know, almost any team.

812
00:53:24,719 --> 00:53:28,159
It seems like, I mean,
he he would have a place just about

813
00:53:28,239 --> 00:53:30,360
anywhere. It's very rare to say
that about a rookie. I was convinced

814
00:53:30,360 --> 00:53:34,119
he couldn't play the three. And
if you need more evidence that, you

815
00:53:34,159 --> 00:53:37,920
shouldn't listen to my my draft cakes. That would be that would be another

816
00:53:37,960 --> 00:53:40,599
one. Here's a question for you, and it sort of lines up with

817
00:53:40,599 --> 00:53:44,719
the Eastern Conference packing over. I
mean we mentioned pretty much every team during

818
00:53:44,719 --> 00:53:46,800
that discussion, so it's probably hard
not to line up with that. What

819
00:53:46,960 --> 00:53:54,000
are the Raptors? And I'll do
you one better, why are the Raptors?

820
00:53:54,039 --> 00:53:59,599
This team, as a detached observer, is killing me. I probably

821
00:53:59,639 --> 00:54:02,840
had too high expectations for them coming
into the season. I know Siakham miss

822
00:54:02,880 --> 00:54:08,400
time. I know that their recent
slide has coincided with oj and Anobi's hip

823
00:54:08,400 --> 00:54:14,159
injury. But like I, they're
too good. I mean, just when

824
00:54:14,159 --> 00:54:16,280
you look at what Gary Trent Junior
has been able to do for them this

825
00:54:16,320 --> 00:54:21,679
season, how are they? And
they've quietly just I think everyone assumes that

826
00:54:21,719 --> 00:54:24,519
they're good on defense this season and
they've had their moments, but they're not.

827
00:54:24,800 --> 00:54:29,760
They're bottom five in points allowed per
possession at this point, and they're

828
00:54:29,800 --> 00:54:32,559
actually you know, we talk about
the during the King's Stretch that got Luke

829
00:54:32,599 --> 00:54:36,559
Walton fired. Since I just have
that pulled up, this wasn't something I'd

830
00:54:36,599 --> 00:54:38,079
intended to look at. It's just
in front of my face. The Raptors

831
00:54:38,119 --> 00:54:42,079
have the worst defense in the league. Again, an Anobi's missed time during

832
00:54:42,119 --> 00:54:45,400
that stretch, But what are they
should they be better than this? And

833
00:54:45,519 --> 00:54:49,840
is this a team that they don't
feel like they're This is not the Kings

834
00:54:49,880 --> 00:54:52,880
of the East, and I would
hazard they're not even the Pacers. They

835
00:54:52,880 --> 00:54:54,960
don't feel like they're going to get
caught up in the chase to be seven

836
00:54:55,440 --> 00:55:00,239
or eight. And so I'm wondering
if you think they should or I could

837
00:55:00,239 --> 00:55:05,760
foresee a scenario in which they're at
the deadline and they're looking at becoming sellers,

838
00:55:05,800 --> 00:55:07,519
And what does that even look like
when you take stock of their roster

839
00:55:07,679 --> 00:55:13,719
beyond Scotty Barnes. Well, as
I have to for all this stuff,

840
00:55:14,239 --> 00:55:16,599
I start with opponents. You're hitting
thirty seven point eight percent of their threes

841
00:55:16,840 --> 00:55:21,360
against Toronto, which is the fourth
highest rate in the league. So that's

842
00:55:21,440 --> 00:55:25,840
one thing. Their defense is kind
of baffling. And I was working on

843
00:55:25,960 --> 00:55:31,800
something the other week and the stats
are still essentially they still bear this out.

844
00:55:32,159 --> 00:55:36,679
So Toronto is the number one offensive
rebounding team in the league, and

845
00:55:37,320 --> 00:55:45,039
they also somehow inexplicably keep teams out
of transition like to the second, first

846
00:55:45,159 --> 00:55:51,000
or second lowest frequency in the league. So which with the case I was

847
00:55:51,079 --> 00:55:53,920
making, is that that speaks to
like they got a bunch of six six

848
00:55:54,079 --> 00:55:59,000
to six, you know, nine
great athletes that can cover a ton of

849
00:55:59,039 --> 00:56:01,480
ground, because I don't know how
else you lead the league in offensive rebounding

850
00:56:01,559 --> 00:56:06,840
rate and also never get run out
on something like that doesn't compute. You

851
00:56:06,960 --> 00:56:08,480
can't have bodies, you know,
on both ends of the floor at the

852
00:56:08,519 --> 00:56:12,360
same time. They also forced a
ton of turnovers, which I think also

853
00:56:12,400 --> 00:56:15,239
speaks to what's a lot of that's
Gary Trent being like juiced up on battery

854
00:56:15,280 --> 00:56:22,239
acid when he plays defense. But
did you see the author he who must

855
00:56:22,280 --> 00:56:24,880
not be named, is just what
I'm gonna say because I've not agreed with

856
00:56:25,360 --> 00:56:30,000
a lot of the things he's written
in the past of their defensive ladder Defensive

857
00:56:30,000 --> 00:56:32,239
Player of the Year ladder. Wow, I can't talk because I almost know.

858
00:56:34,400 --> 00:56:37,280
Gary Trench Junior was third on his
early season deep I thought that was

859
00:56:37,320 --> 00:56:43,760
a little ambitious, like period like
for the whole league or on the roads

860
00:56:45,480 --> 00:56:47,480
for the whole league. He was
third. I have an issue with that.

861
00:56:49,119 --> 00:56:52,480
So, but so you're just to
your point about him him forcing Yeah,

862
00:56:52,519 --> 00:56:55,360
he forced a lot of turnovers and
if that's classic, oh, look

863
00:56:55,360 --> 00:57:00,159
at how many steals he's wish Yeah, I mean, like I might point

864
00:57:00,199 --> 00:57:05,840
to og and and Obi as a
slightly better defensive player of your options.

865
00:57:05,880 --> 00:57:09,199
Been really good on defensive year.
Sure, sure, I know it's you

866
00:57:09,280 --> 00:57:14,840
know, third, it's a little
okay, wait, third on the team

867
00:57:14,920 --> 00:57:19,679
that ranks twenty fifth, And yeah, he's really making an impact that Gary

868
00:57:19,719 --> 00:57:22,159
Trent. Uh No, The Raptors
are confounding, and I think, like,

869
00:57:22,320 --> 00:57:24,760
you know, I've just been in
the bag for them forever. There's

870
00:57:24,800 --> 00:57:30,840
the championship hangover, even without Kauai
and Ibaka and Kasoul and you know Lowery

871
00:57:30,920 --> 00:57:35,360
now, like basically that core is
not really there. But I think Nick

872
00:57:35,440 --> 00:57:37,480
Nurse is a good coach. It
doesn't make sense to me why they're so

873
00:57:37,599 --> 00:57:39,639
bad because they have so many players. I like, you know, like

874
00:57:39,760 --> 00:57:44,840
I like Siakam even though I guess
I don't know is it cool to be

875
00:57:44,880 --> 00:57:47,400
down on Siakam now? Or where
are we as an NBA collective? It

876
00:57:47,480 --> 00:57:52,480
feels like we were over the moon
and when he broke out and then suddenly

877
00:57:52,519 --> 00:57:55,159
he was overrated and suddenly he was
exposed in the playoffs and now like,

878
00:57:55,199 --> 00:57:58,679
I don't know what he is,
but I still like him. There has

879
00:57:58,719 --> 00:58:00,599
been an over correction I think on
both sides to where people and maybe I

880
00:58:00,679 --> 00:58:04,840
fall into this spectrum or too intent
on defending him and what he can be

881
00:58:05,039 --> 00:58:07,639
and what he does even when he's
not his best. Then there were just

882
00:58:07,639 --> 00:58:12,880
people that are too low on him. I would absolutely give up real stuff

883
00:58:13,079 --> 00:58:15,840
assets to acquire him if he's available
over your trade. That would not be

884
00:58:16,159 --> 00:58:19,559
if I'm the Kings or if I'm
not. I've done a lot about the

885
00:58:19,559 --> 00:58:22,920
Timberwolves. You know you mentioned Ben
Simmons and Towns. Yeah, something that

886
00:58:22,920 --> 00:58:27,559
would be exceedingly fun. They're probably
other teams that would obviously fall into Yeah.

887
00:58:28,039 --> 00:58:30,920
So so I like him. Everybody
loves Scotty Barnes. I love Anna

888
00:58:31,400 --> 00:58:34,719
probably more than most. No,
you don't move any of those guys.

889
00:58:34,880 --> 00:58:38,400
So I think ultimately there were rumors
that like make you well, obviously they

890
00:58:38,480 --> 00:58:43,599
sort of packed it in last year, right like they they sort they very

891
00:58:43,679 --> 00:58:45,840
much packed it in last year.
I think they could sort of very much

892
00:58:45,880 --> 00:58:50,159
packing in this year. I don't
feel like they'll be house cleaning because I

893
00:58:50,199 --> 00:58:52,719
don't know they I like their best
players, like I don't, I don't

894
00:58:52,719 --> 00:58:55,480
know, and like you're gonna trade
Van Bleet maybe, like that's you or

895
00:58:55,559 --> 00:58:59,679
Siakam. I certainly Barnes and anna
Ob are going nowhere, So if you're

896
00:58:59,719 --> 00:59:02,079
gonna make a significant move, it'd
be one of those two older, uh,

897
00:59:02,280 --> 00:59:05,920
you know, high end guys.
I think they're more likely to tank

898
00:59:06,000 --> 00:59:08,960
and try to get another high lottery
pick. And then suddenly you've got Barnes,

899
00:59:08,960 --> 00:59:14,039
an and Obi whoever you take fourth
or fifth or whatever depending on your

900
00:59:14,119 --> 00:59:15,800
luck, and Van Fleet and Siakam
and you see what you you know,

901
00:59:16,119 --> 00:59:20,679
I think that's more likely. I
think they'll be better. I would like.

902
00:59:21,440 --> 00:59:23,559
I just it doesn't again, it
doesn't compute why they aren't better.

903
00:59:23,639 --> 00:59:27,119
I just I like so many of
their players. I like the coach.

904
00:59:28,320 --> 00:59:30,800
I don't know. He's making you
sad too, I understand, Yeah,

905
00:59:30,840 --> 00:59:35,000
Chris buche made me sad. Yeah, Kim Birch. Everybody loves Kim Birch.

906
00:59:35,159 --> 00:59:37,239
Although now I think kim Birch has
become overrated because for a while there,

907
00:59:37,320 --> 00:59:39,000
kim Brich was the guy that was
like, you know, who can

908
00:59:39,320 --> 00:59:43,440
Kim Birch kind of had Rushaun Holmes
this corner for a while, but like,

909
00:59:43,639 --> 00:59:46,039
there's this center that nobody knows about
that's actually eas as good as Holmes

910
00:59:46,079 --> 00:59:49,719
obviously, but Birch was that guy
for a while, and now I think

911
00:59:49,760 --> 00:59:52,360
it's like, not a great option
for a lot of minutes at center.

912
00:59:53,920 --> 00:59:58,400
I would I think I fall into
what you said, and they have enough

913
00:59:58,440 --> 01:00:02,239
cantalizing young talent or an established talent
that you can probably get away with saying,

914
01:00:02,239 --> 01:00:06,199
Hey, Van Fleet, Siakam at
Anobi, take you know, March

915
01:00:06,440 --> 01:00:08,199
through or excuse me, take like
you know, yeah, March through the

916
01:00:08,239 --> 01:00:13,400
rest of the season off or whatever. I do wonder if they should look

917
01:00:13,440 --> 01:00:19,119
at because they do seem like they
need a more I don't want to say

918
01:00:19,159 --> 01:00:23,280
traditional presence in the front court because
I'm very I like unconventional front. You

919
01:00:23,440 --> 01:00:28,320
just don't view Siakam as someone who
can be your every rep center, which

920
01:00:28,360 --> 01:00:30,360
they do not. I think that's
been pushed over the past two, if

921
01:00:30,440 --> 01:00:34,440
not more, seasons. Maybe you
do look at moving him, and I

922
01:00:35,039 --> 01:00:37,480
would be fine adding another top pick
to this court, because I'm with you.

923
01:00:37,559 --> 01:00:39,840
I like all their good players.
It's tough to imagine them moving at

924
01:00:39,880 --> 01:00:44,599
Anobi He's on what might be the
best contract in the league when you look

925
01:00:44,599 --> 01:00:47,519
at the extensions that when you look
at the Michael Bridges got and you look

926
01:00:47,559 --> 01:00:52,679
at the money that Miles Bridge is
about to get. I Fred van Fleet,

927
01:00:53,239 --> 01:00:57,800
I could see a scenario where they
move him, but I feel like

928
01:00:57,880 --> 01:01:01,079
they're married to him pretty firmly.
If you don't take Jail and Suggs.

929
01:01:01,320 --> 01:01:04,480
And it's not to say if they
should have that, Suggs will be the

930
01:01:04,519 --> 01:01:07,760
better player. If anything, Barnes
has clearly usurped him at this point.

931
01:01:07,000 --> 01:01:12,480
The fact that they went the Scottie
Barnes route, yeah, informs on how

932
01:01:12,480 --> 01:01:15,480
they want to build their team,
but I also think it instructs how much

933
01:01:15,519 --> 01:01:17,599
they really like Fred van Fleet,
and so Siakam sort of seems like if

934
01:01:17,599 --> 01:01:22,000
they're gonna make the big move,
that selling move, that would be it,

935
01:01:22,039 --> 01:01:24,119
because they're clearly not going to be
buyers. I just still if they're

936
01:01:24,159 --> 01:01:29,880
healthy, I could see them making
a run. And again they're as we're

937
01:01:29,960 --> 01:01:32,800
talking about them, like this is
the route they're gonna go because they're twelfth

938
01:01:32,880 --> 01:01:36,119
in the East. Twelfth in the
East just means you're, you know,

939
01:01:36,199 --> 01:01:37,519
two and a half games out of
fifth place right now. Yeah, right,

940
01:01:37,800 --> 01:01:40,280
So they're a team that could go
on a tear. I think it

941
01:01:40,400 --> 01:01:44,079
re entered the discussion, but if
you get closer to the deadline, I'm

942
01:01:44,159 --> 01:01:47,880
just curious if his name gets floated
around and I there should be interest because

943
01:01:47,920 --> 01:01:52,280
there are teams that I could just
rattle off that I would be super intrigued

944
01:01:52,360 --> 01:01:57,440
to see him on. I agree, I agree, I have. I

945
01:01:57,559 --> 01:02:00,199
have like a handful of like little
things have been bothering me type things.

946
01:02:00,239 --> 01:02:05,079
I don't know if they're big questions, but they're stuff. Stuff really grinds

947
01:02:05,119 --> 01:02:08,400
grant uses gears. There's yeah,
grinds my gears or not even really.

948
01:02:08,719 --> 01:02:14,800
So I've been thinking about the Jazz
because you know, they're just sort of

949
01:02:14,880 --> 01:02:17,159
a plug and play. We're going
to win a bunch of games and be

950
01:02:17,239 --> 01:02:22,119
a top four seed, and we're
good at both ends. But I find

951
01:02:22,159 --> 01:02:27,559
myself being weirdly and they have the
second highest differential in the West and in

952
01:02:27,599 --> 01:02:31,960
the league actually, I think behind
the Warriors. I'm a little annoyed that

953
01:02:32,000 --> 01:02:36,960
they're not like meaningfully different from last
year. So like they're big, they're

954
01:02:37,119 --> 01:02:40,920
they're big acquisitions. I guess were
Rudy Gay is number one, and he's

955
01:02:40,960 --> 01:02:45,199
only just recently gotten back onto the
floor and they haven't used him at center

956
01:02:45,199 --> 01:02:49,480
at all yet. I kind of
thought that, you know, I think

957
01:02:49,519 --> 01:02:52,519
we all could have agreed that after
last year, you know, a,

958
01:02:52,960 --> 01:02:57,800
the Jazz needed better perimeter defenders or
at least like healthier ones in the playoffs.

959
01:02:57,840 --> 01:03:00,480
I guess, if you want to
be charitable and be they needed a

960
01:03:00,519 --> 01:03:02,840
way to play smaller. If if
that, you know, if they just

961
01:03:02,920 --> 01:03:07,480
couldn't figure out how to make a
conventional lineup with Gobert and their work against

962
01:03:07,519 --> 01:03:10,639
certain playoff opponents, like you just
had to have a changeup, you had

963
01:03:10,679 --> 01:03:15,800
to have a second option. And
I thought game might be that that seemed

964
01:03:15,800 --> 01:03:17,480
like a weird stretch to think he
might be your small ball center or like

965
01:03:17,639 --> 01:03:22,159
Eric Pascal, like that's not He's
not a playoff caliber small ball center.

966
01:03:23,119 --> 01:03:27,679
They didn't do that. They didn't
get any you know, shut down wing

967
01:03:27,880 --> 01:03:31,519
defenders on the cheap, which is
not easy, but they didn't. So

968
01:03:31,599 --> 01:03:35,000
I'm wondering where your thoughts are on
Utah, because I'm kind of at the

969
01:03:35,039 --> 01:03:37,519
point now where it's like it's not
just wake me up when the playoffs start.

970
01:03:37,559 --> 01:03:42,480
It's almost more like, well,
I just I don't think anything's gonna

971
01:03:42,480 --> 01:03:45,719
be different unless Donovan Mitchell like levels
way up, and then then then nothing

972
01:03:45,880 --> 01:03:51,000
that other stuff matters less. But
I'm kind of disappointed in them, even

973
01:03:51,079 --> 01:03:54,800
though I'll acknowledge like how obviously really
good they are. Yeah, I would

974
01:03:54,840 --> 01:03:58,800
probably share and everything you said.
I think Rugae is just going to help

975
01:03:58,880 --> 01:04:01,760
them even when he's playing the four
because he's so long, and that gives

976
01:04:01,800 --> 01:04:06,400
them a dynamic as an alternative to
Boyanbodanovitch that they don't necessarily haven't even maybe

977
01:04:06,440 --> 01:04:12,159
Joe Ingles because he's old and slower. But I do think whatever you're getting

978
01:04:12,199 --> 01:04:15,599
from Gay you do have to worry
about, like Joe Ingles aging or Mike

979
01:04:15,679 --> 01:04:19,400
Conley is anti aging right now,
but what does he look like defensively?

980
01:04:19,440 --> 01:04:21,960
In the playoffs? I think Donovan
Mitchell has gotten a little bit better defensively.

981
01:04:23,440 --> 01:04:26,239
What's weird about them? And zachl
always pointed this out as like they're

982
01:04:26,239 --> 01:04:30,880
eleventh on defense, which feels low
for them, and that's getting good backup

983
01:04:30,960 --> 01:04:33,159
center play from Assan Whiteside, where
that just makes so much more sense than

984
01:04:33,280 --> 01:04:36,800
the Derek Favors fit. And I
think look a lot of it is just

985
01:04:38,360 --> 01:04:43,480
like the Jazz are It's not talked
about, at least not something that I

986
01:04:43,599 --> 01:04:47,440
see nationally talked about a lot.
Their transition defense is bad. They are

987
01:04:49,480 --> 01:04:56,679
twenty eight in transition opponent transition efficiency. When it's off steals they're twenty ninth,

988
01:04:56,920 --> 01:05:00,960
and off live ball rebounds they are
night teenth. And so they do

989
01:05:00,159 --> 01:05:04,239
do a good job of limiting the
well, no, they don't even do

990
01:05:04,280 --> 01:05:08,519
a good job of limiting the frequency
with which their opponents are in transition.

991
01:05:08,639 --> 01:05:13,519
I'm seventeenth overall, which is just
sort of blah. So that's screams we

992
01:05:13,679 --> 01:05:16,679
need more. But I mean they
could be a matter of there are plays

993
01:05:16,760 --> 01:05:19,679
we're just like, Okay, well
why aren't they back? But that screams

994
01:05:19,760 --> 01:05:25,039
more like we need faster, quicker
guys on the wings. And it's invariably

995
01:05:25,079 --> 01:05:28,480
going to get to a point in
the postseason where just feels as if Royce

996
01:05:28,559 --> 01:05:31,159
O'Neill and Rudy Gobert are gonna have
to do too much heavy lifting for this

997
01:05:31,280 --> 01:05:38,079
team. Yeah, I just I
kind of like always bristle it like,

998
01:05:38,199 --> 01:05:40,800
well, what's the trade that this
team is going to make, because you

999
01:05:40,880 --> 01:05:44,559
just never know. But like I
don't know. I feel like Daddy is

1000
01:05:44,639 --> 01:05:48,199
Young's going somewhere like maybe he's your
your option to play smaller if you want

1001
01:05:48,239 --> 01:05:50,679
to. But I don't know who
the shutdown. You know, who's your

1002
01:05:50,760 --> 01:05:55,880
wing, your guy you're gonna put
out there that's like a little better than

1003
01:05:55,960 --> 01:05:59,000
Royce O'Neill, you know, or
just to put out there with Royce O'Neill

1004
01:05:59,039 --> 01:06:00,519
in certain lineups again, you know, certain playoff teams. I don't know

1005
01:06:00,599 --> 01:06:04,000
who that guy is that's available out
there that you know, might might be

1006
01:06:04,119 --> 01:06:09,800
potentially gettable for like a protected first
and Jordan Clarkson or whatever. Hey,

1007
01:06:09,840 --> 01:06:14,400
I wondered if Jordan Clarkson was enough
to get them Josh Richardson after last season

1008
01:06:14,679 --> 01:06:16,679
then he got moved from Dallas to
to Boston. And I don't think that's

1009
01:06:16,719 --> 01:06:20,320
something Boston's gonna they already have Denis
Sure you don't need Jordan Clarkson. Yeah,

1010
01:06:20,440 --> 01:06:23,840
you can still look at speaking of
that, like Reggie Bullock has not

1011
01:06:24,000 --> 01:06:27,199
been shooting well for the season.
Is that and the Dallas does need like

1012
01:06:27,280 --> 01:06:30,519
a secondary creator. But Jordan Clarkson
has played or shot so poorly this year

1013
01:06:30,760 --> 01:06:33,519
that you just mentioned him. Plus
the first round pick. What does that

1014
01:06:33,599 --> 01:06:38,119
exactly get you? I thought about
Maxi Kleiba too, but he has slowed

1015
01:06:38,159 --> 01:06:40,920
down a lot. I thought last
year was a combination of COVID and injuries,

1016
01:06:40,920 --> 01:06:43,519
and he's been banged up this season
two. But he doesn't look the

1017
01:06:43,599 --> 01:06:48,239
same defensively either. And the player
that the Jazz need is the archetype of

1018
01:06:48,320 --> 01:06:51,480
player that every single team in the
NBA. Right, Yeah, maybe it's

1019
01:06:51,480 --> 01:06:56,039
a Harrison Barnes destination. He's not
a shutdown guy, but he'd be what

1020
01:06:56,239 --> 01:07:00,639
is the what is the package?
Yeah, Clarkson's salary and I guess you

1021
01:07:00,719 --> 01:07:03,119
could step like you know Clarkson and
Joe Ingles is why would the Kings do

1022
01:07:03,239 --> 01:07:05,840
that? Right? Right? Yeah? If you're the Kings, you're just

1023
01:07:05,960 --> 01:07:09,199
trying to get I think, well, who knows. We just spent a

1024
01:07:09,280 --> 01:07:12,119
long time saying who knows what the
Kings are trying to do? But yeah,

1025
01:07:14,480 --> 01:07:16,400
that's the whole problem. No,
I don't know you got anything.

1026
01:07:16,480 --> 01:07:19,320
That was my Jazz question. We're
really hitting all the teams that people care

1027
01:07:19,360 --> 01:07:21,440
about. We got the Kings,
we got the Jazz. I have a

1028
01:07:21,480 --> 01:07:24,960
team that you're going to care about, and I promise I'm not trolling.

1029
01:07:25,119 --> 01:07:28,840
I'm not trying to start this narrative, and it's about the Golden State Warriors,

1030
01:07:28,920 --> 01:07:33,239
and I want to point out that
they are first by a mile.

1031
01:07:33,559 --> 01:07:36,239
I think still in defense, are
they not? They have the top overall

1032
01:07:36,280 --> 01:07:39,920
that riding in the league and the
other thing that, yeah, their offense

1033
01:07:40,039 --> 01:07:43,920
ranks highly, but they have the
best half court offense in the NBA right

1034
01:07:44,000 --> 01:07:48,880
now, So this question feels stupid. Do they have enough secondary shot making

1035
01:07:49,000 --> 01:07:54,280
to be this big of a threat
in the playoffs? And look, they

1036
01:07:54,360 --> 01:07:58,960
have one the non staff minutes,
which is absolutely huge, and their offense

1037
01:07:59,000 --> 01:08:01,119
has crept up to closer to league
average in those minutes. By the way,

1038
01:08:01,480 --> 01:08:04,719
one hundred and seven point five points
per one hundred possessions. That's the

1039
01:08:04,760 --> 01:08:10,079
forty second percentile. I will one
hundred percent take that when Stephen Curry is

1040
01:08:10,159 --> 01:08:14,519
not on the floor. I think
it comes down to whether you believe it.

1041
01:08:14,960 --> 01:08:16,159
And it's not even a Clay Thompson
question for me. Do you think

1042
01:08:16,279 --> 01:08:21,680
Andrew Wiggins and Jordan Pool are enough
to shoulder that burden? And if you

1043
01:08:21,800 --> 01:08:26,199
say yes, is it mostly because
of how the Warriors play, because you

1044
01:08:26,239 --> 01:08:29,560
don't look at them as when they
had Kevin Durant. There were situations where

1045
01:08:29,600 --> 01:08:30,800
it's like, all right, we
need that guy to just go and get

1046
01:08:30,840 --> 01:08:34,439
a bucket. They don't play a
type of style where that's necessarily what you

1047
01:08:34,560 --> 01:08:39,039
ever look for. At the same
time, I do think it's it's an

1048
01:08:39,079 --> 01:08:44,079
element, a dynamic of an offense
that you need once you get to the

1049
01:08:44,159 --> 01:08:47,239
playoffs. So I think that's a
great question. I think, I mean,

1050
01:08:47,319 --> 01:08:51,439
coming into the year that well,
there were a lot of questions because

1051
01:08:51,439 --> 01:08:56,880
who knew like what auto Port or
Neminublitz or any of these guys had,

1052
01:08:56,960 --> 01:09:02,359
if they would all have anything,
but that shot creation behind Steph Curry was

1053
01:09:02,399 --> 01:09:06,880
a huge deal. And Pool has
been the main, you know, sort

1054
01:09:06,920 --> 01:09:12,359
of guy who's addressed at and you
know, he and Wiggins I think both

1055
01:09:12,439 --> 01:09:15,279
had thirty the other night when Steph
had a bad night and they won,

1056
01:09:15,439 --> 01:09:17,960
and then Pool had another thirty when
Steff had twelve points against I think Toronto

1057
01:09:18,079 --> 01:09:23,560
help. Well that's so that's the
answer, or that's the question. So

1058
01:09:24,560 --> 01:09:28,840
if you're talking if you're talking about
like do they have enough with just these

1059
01:09:28,880 --> 01:09:31,479
guys, And we'll just say Clay
Clay is not a shot creator. He's

1060
01:09:31,560 --> 01:09:35,920
a guy who's gravity facilitates shot creation
elsewhere on the floor, but he's not.

1061
01:09:36,680 --> 01:09:40,000
You have the ball at the at
a dead stop at the top of

1062
01:09:40,000 --> 01:09:42,479
the key, and you have to
make a thing happen. He's not probably

1063
01:09:42,520 --> 01:09:46,039
be even less. So yeah,
him up all the time or something he

1064
01:09:46,199 --> 01:09:48,640
was. Yeah, he was a
functional pick and roll guy, and he

1065
01:09:48,720 --> 01:09:53,199
could throw a quick pocket pass and
but that was like it was mechanical,

1066
01:09:53,479 --> 01:09:57,960
not great. Yeah, ruling him
out. So in a playoff series,

1067
01:09:58,960 --> 01:10:04,239
you're only gonna need eight minutes,
you know, ten minutes of like serviceable

1068
01:10:04,279 --> 01:10:08,880
shot creation when Steff's not on the
floor and if you have a really good

1069
01:10:08,960 --> 01:10:13,920
defense, which they do, and
I think that's very sustainable. Your bar

1070
01:10:14,119 --> 01:10:15,840
for how many shots you need to
create and how efficient you need to be

1071
01:10:15,960 --> 01:10:20,439
with those shots is even lower.
So I guess I'm saying that the answer

1072
01:10:20,479 --> 01:10:24,720
is a qualified yes, but only
and it's not like, oh yeah,

1073
01:10:24,840 --> 01:10:28,680
I think Pool is the second coming
of CJ. McCollum. Very different players,

1074
01:10:28,720 --> 01:10:30,119
but just the idea of a guy
who's like he can kind of hold

1075
01:10:30,119 --> 01:10:34,279
it down for you know, several
games at a time. If Dame Lillard

1076
01:10:34,359 --> 01:10:38,159
is out, type of thing like
Pool is not. At that level yet,

1077
01:10:38,199 --> 01:10:42,319
and he's a very different type of
player. But Wiggins can get you

1078
01:10:42,560 --> 01:10:45,279
a slightly below average efficiency shot like
whenever you need it. You know,

1079
01:10:45,399 --> 01:10:48,800
he can get to his off the
dribble two point jumpers. He can you

1080
01:10:48,880 --> 01:10:53,960
know, go get fouled. There
are ways for them to score. And

1081
01:10:54,079 --> 01:10:58,479
I think just because they don't need
very much and they have a little shot

1082
01:10:58,520 --> 01:11:01,760
creation, I think I feel pretty
good about saying, yes, they do

1083
01:11:02,000 --> 01:11:08,399
have enough. But obviously, you
know, it's you'd like it to be

1084
01:11:08,800 --> 01:11:11,720
a little You'd like the answer to
be like an unqualified guess, but I

1085
01:11:11,760 --> 01:11:14,439
think you got to have like a
couple of little qualifiers on there. For

1086
01:11:14,520 --> 01:11:17,399
now, this has been a common
refrain throughout this podcast. I agree with

1087
01:11:17,479 --> 01:11:23,359
everything you said. With that said, it is still giving me pause.

1088
01:11:23,720 --> 01:11:26,960
If the question is are they prohibitive
title favorites right now? And I'm just

1089
01:11:27,039 --> 01:11:30,760
not at the point I would still
consider Milwaukee broken and Phoenix over them,

1090
01:11:30,960 --> 01:11:33,520
I'm not. I wouldn't definitely make
that my answer right now. I think

1091
01:11:33,560 --> 01:11:38,159
Phoenix probably comes closest to me wanting
to put them over the Warriors, but

1092
01:11:38,279 --> 01:11:42,760
it's ify enough of a proposition for
me to think about it that way,

1093
01:11:43,079 --> 01:11:46,119
that's still you know, they might
be an Alec Burke's away from being the

1094
01:11:46,159 --> 01:11:48,760
prevaive title favorites, which is not
the end of the world, and you

1095
01:11:48,840 --> 01:11:54,359
can still win a title if that's
your defining flaw. Yeah, I think

1096
01:11:54,439 --> 01:11:57,840
too. You might. You could
make the argument like they've got a they're

1097
01:11:57,880 --> 01:12:01,560
like eleven deep and really more than
that if like Jonathan Cominga has played in

1098
01:12:01,680 --> 01:12:05,439
short bursts and had like a handful
of like, holy shit, this guy

1099
01:12:06,079 --> 01:12:11,319
can do some stuff athletically. He's
been playing more than Moses Moody, which

1100
01:12:11,359 --> 01:12:15,079
is kind of surprising, I think, to a lot of people. But

1101
01:12:15,239 --> 01:12:16,920
you might see more from Comia as
the year goes on. But the point

1102
01:12:16,960 --> 01:12:20,279
I'm making is they got like twelve
guys, so they're really well equipped.

1103
01:12:20,359 --> 01:12:24,479
You can put a dozen guys on
the floor right now and like get something

1104
01:12:24,520 --> 01:12:27,119
out of them in a regular season
game, and that doesn't mean anything in

1105
01:12:27,199 --> 01:12:30,399
the playoffs. You need eight,
you know, maybe you can get away

1106
01:12:30,399 --> 01:12:32,239
with seven. And so I think
there's a case to be made that the

1107
01:12:32,319 --> 01:12:36,920
Warriors, especially because they're so hard
to scout and they play so differently than

1108
01:12:36,960 --> 01:12:40,880
every other team, are kind of
a regular season monster right now. Because

1109
01:12:40,920 --> 01:12:44,000
like you're just not going to be
ready for them, and they just have

1110
01:12:44,600 --> 01:12:48,560
ridiculous depth of like this guy's pretty
like Gary Payton the second has won them,

1111
01:12:48,680 --> 01:12:51,279
you know, change games for them, and he's there. Well,

1112
01:12:51,279 --> 01:12:56,479
I don't know tenth guy. Maybe
he's a C with hands he so,

1113
01:12:56,600 --> 01:12:59,560
yeah, I would talk about herb
Jones, like you can't dribble around Gary

1114
01:12:59,600 --> 01:13:05,640
Payton. It's like not allowed.
It's it's strictly against the rules. But

1115
01:13:05,760 --> 01:13:10,760
yeah, so I think I think
a regular season there, I think they're

1116
01:13:10,760 --> 01:13:15,159
gonna win the most games in the
league. And I don't know, I

1117
01:13:15,279 --> 01:13:17,600
think I agree with you that they're
in the class of like, yes,

1118
01:13:17,760 --> 01:13:21,439
this team is a contender, but
to say that they deserve to be at

1119
01:13:21,520 --> 01:13:25,279
the top of that list, like
with a gap between them and two,

1120
01:13:25,359 --> 01:13:28,199
three, four, I'm not I'm
not there yet either. You've also much

1121
01:13:28,199 --> 01:13:30,159
to the great point about they don't
really have the ability to shorten their rotation

1122
01:13:30,600 --> 01:13:34,239
when they're at full strength. They
can, but it's besides Steph, dre

1123
01:13:34,520 --> 01:13:38,920
and Wiggins, who's the player you
have Clay coming back from injury, so

1124
01:13:38,920 --> 01:13:42,079
it's talking to him like, what
is the thirty five plus minutes per game

1125
01:13:42,479 --> 01:13:45,960
fourth player on this team if you
get to that point, right, I

1126
01:13:45,000 --> 01:13:48,800
mean, that's a real question because
it cannot be Iguadalada. Damien Lee is

1127
01:13:49,000 --> 01:13:53,279
real, real good fifteen to twenty
minutes. He's not your thirty five minute

1128
01:13:53,279 --> 01:13:56,399
and I Clay is not going to
be there. That's that's really good.

1129
01:13:56,680 --> 01:13:59,359
I mean you might look at them. I don't think they're going to do

1130
01:13:59,479 --> 01:14:02,560
anything, but they look like a
team that is kind of ripe for a

1131
01:14:02,640 --> 01:14:06,880
consolidation type of move. Like I
don't know what packaging a bunch of minimum

1132
01:14:06,960 --> 01:14:11,880
salary vets that are pretty good gets
you. But the minutes, somebody's gonna

1133
01:14:11,880 --> 01:14:14,880
need to eat, you know,
when this rotation shrinks, someone's gonna need

1134
01:14:14,920 --> 01:14:16,680
to play a lot more. And
they that's a great observation. They don't

1135
01:14:16,720 --> 01:14:19,880
have a lot of Like Auto Porter's
not gonna play thirty minutes. He can't

1136
01:14:19,920 --> 01:14:25,439
do it. And physically, Jordan
Pool might give Steve Kerrhart attack if he's

1137
01:14:25,439 --> 01:14:30,640
playing, Draymond Green might strangle him
on the floor. Like that's a problem.

1138
01:14:30,680 --> 01:14:32,319
I couldn't bring myself to ask this
question as we wrap up about them,

1139
01:14:32,720 --> 01:14:35,800
mostly because I don't have an answer
to it. Has their start made

1140
01:14:35,840 --> 01:14:41,560
it more or less likely that they
would make a consolidation trade because there's the

1141
01:14:41,640 --> 01:14:45,000
element of, yes, there should
you know you can win the title now,

1142
01:14:45,479 --> 01:14:47,359
you should make that move if it's
available. Then it's also like,

1143
01:14:47,960 --> 01:14:50,199
we have the best record in the
league. We don't have Clay yet,

1144
01:14:50,239 --> 01:14:53,960
we don't have Wiseman yet. And
the other question on top of that was

1145
01:14:54,199 --> 01:14:58,640
are you all worried about how Wiseman's
return could end up impacting like the juju

1146
01:14:58,720 --> 01:15:02,720
they built because they're their progression,
what they're doing now really started last season

1147
01:15:03,119 --> 01:15:06,560
when they began playing without James Wiseman, and maybe they're at a point where

1148
01:15:06,560 --> 01:15:09,439
they have the luxury of just saying, well, we're not going to make

1149
01:15:09,520 --> 01:15:12,439
him a huge part of the rotation. Then we have Kevon Looney, Draymond

1150
01:15:12,479 --> 01:15:15,760
at the five. We've gotten good
minutes from Numania the Eliza. At the

1151
01:15:15,800 --> 01:15:18,479
same time, if you end up
basically punting on the first two seasons of

1152
01:15:18,520 --> 01:15:21,800
his career, then that becomes this
huge deal that you have to tackle.

1153
01:15:24,000 --> 01:15:28,840
They're punting, Like so this is
this is the thing every time, So

1154
01:15:29,319 --> 01:15:32,880
especially out here in California, like, and I'm sure it's national too,

1155
01:15:32,960 --> 01:15:36,600
but like, oh my God,
the Warriors are getting Clay and Wiseman back,

1156
01:15:36,640 --> 01:15:38,920
can you, Matt, It's like
no, no, no, no,

1157
01:15:39,359 --> 01:15:44,079
the Warriors are getting Clay back and
Wiseman. Wiseman will also be healthy

1158
01:15:44,119 --> 01:15:46,600
at some point, but to like
equate the potential impact of the two is

1159
01:15:46,920 --> 01:15:51,880
insane. Like Wiseman made them worse
last year. He's not a good NBA

1160
01:15:53,000 --> 01:15:56,359
player like, let alone a good
NBA player that deserves minutes on a team

1161
01:15:56,439 --> 01:15:59,960
that's got the best record in the
league, and it's like killing every other

1162
01:16:00,000 --> 01:16:04,000
a good team at plays like Wiseman
is going. So they want they are

1163
01:16:04,039 --> 01:16:10,079
in a position now where they're not
gonna that's so there's a lot to say.

1164
01:16:10,640 --> 01:16:13,600
It's tempting, for sure, because
you could be like, they're this

1165
01:16:13,800 --> 01:16:17,159
good and you could trade Kominga and
Wiseman and a pick and really get no

1166
01:16:17,319 --> 01:16:20,520
worse at all in terms of your
on court product this year and add somebody

1167
01:16:20,760 --> 01:16:25,960
at a decent salary that's really good, Like you could go do that right

1168
01:16:26,000 --> 01:16:29,199
now and make this team way better. I don't think they're gonna do that

1169
01:16:29,279 --> 01:16:32,479
because it seems to me, like
Joe lacob is like, yeah, it's

1170
01:16:32,560 --> 01:16:36,079
like this is my flex Like we're
having it both ways, like we are

1171
01:16:36,119 --> 01:16:40,439
going to be really good now and
we have three or four guys that are

1172
01:16:40,560 --> 01:16:45,119
twenty three and younger that we think
are gonna all be the Kawhi Leonard to

1173
01:16:45,159 --> 01:16:47,600
Steph Curry's Tim Duncan and like there
we're all we're just gonna be great forever.

1174
01:16:47,760 --> 01:16:53,359
Like that's the vision, that's the
light years vision. How how reasonable

1175
01:16:53,399 --> 01:16:59,000
that is is, we can talk
about that. But I just think Wiseman

1176
01:16:59,119 --> 01:17:01,840
is not some that they're going to
play out of a sense of obligation because

1177
01:17:01,880 --> 01:17:06,079
they've learned that that was a mistake
last year. And Kuminga is kind of

1178
01:17:06,119 --> 01:17:13,439
setting a tone like he's he's earning
minutes right through through practice and he's been

1179
01:17:13,760 --> 01:17:16,079
very limited in what they're letting him
do. And I think that will be

1180
01:17:16,159 --> 01:17:19,439
the Wiseman approach, like if he
because like it should look it should not

1181
01:17:19,520 --> 01:17:24,760
be hard to get Kavan Luney's minutes, Like he's just he's a stop he's

1182
01:17:24,920 --> 01:17:27,880
an the ultimate stop gap. He
knows how to play with Steph and he

1183
01:17:27,960 --> 01:17:30,840
doesn't need the ball and like those
are just two and he's a good perimeter

1184
01:17:30,920 --> 01:17:33,079
defender for a center, like those
are what he does, so Wiseman should

1185
01:17:33,079 --> 01:17:35,720
be able to take those minutes,
but they will not be given. Like

1186
01:17:35,840 --> 01:17:40,239
there's just no scenario where he comes
back and is in the rotation like in

1187
01:17:40,319 --> 01:17:45,760
a meaningful way until he just catches
every lob, gets every rebound. They're

1188
01:17:45,800 --> 01:17:49,600
gonna totally baby step him this year, I think, which because yeah,

1189
01:17:49,680 --> 01:17:54,239
why why why give him? Why
why mess around with what's going on just

1190
01:17:54,239 --> 01:17:57,520
because you feel like you have to
prove that you made a good pick last

1191
01:17:57,600 --> 01:17:59,840
year. It doesn't make sense.
It is bizarre in the sense that when

1192
01:17:59,880 --> 01:18:01,560
you talk about Clay, you know
he's gonna take someone's minutes. I'm still

1193
01:18:01,560 --> 01:18:05,279
trying to figure out who gets impacted
the most. May returning with Wiseman.

1194
01:18:05,399 --> 01:18:09,439
It's not only we know who would
be impacted the most, but you would

1195
01:18:09,439 --> 01:18:13,079
be inferior. Okay, with it
come these minutes would go down. He's

1196
01:18:13,159 --> 01:18:15,800
just not based off what happened last
year and how they're playing this year.

1197
01:18:15,119 --> 01:18:17,880
I don't know what his fit is
fun Warriors. That though, by the

1198
01:18:17,920 --> 01:18:23,359
way, their defensive rating against top
ten offensive top ten offenses this year is

1199
01:18:23,439 --> 01:18:27,960
better than their defensive rating against bottom
ten offenses, So just the type of

1200
01:18:28,000 --> 01:18:30,439
season that they're having. Yeah,
that's a that's a real that's a Dynasty

1201
01:18:30,520 --> 01:18:34,399
Warriors move right there, where they
just well they're doing the third quarter thing

1202
01:18:34,439 --> 01:18:36,880
too, where they'll play down to
the level of competition and they have like

1203
01:18:36,960 --> 01:18:41,399
six minutes in the third quarter where
they just knuke whoever is there. You

1204
01:18:41,479 --> 01:18:45,399
know. That's that's another I have
to say. There's a lot of like

1205
01:18:45,520 --> 01:18:50,399
weird little quirks that I forgot about
from the half decade dynasty thing that are

1206
01:18:50,479 --> 01:18:54,399
kind of back this year, which
has really been like a lot of the

1207
01:18:54,479 --> 01:18:57,479
fun part of this. It's so
much fun. I don't like the there

1208
01:18:57,560 --> 01:19:00,000
has been this like creeping narrative of
look what they were able to do,

1209
01:19:00,359 --> 01:19:04,760
like just to stay relevant this long
and without really sacrifice. It's like,

1210
01:19:05,079 --> 01:19:10,600
no, they had a two year
Yeah they were fifteen and fifteen, Yeah

1211
01:19:10,680 --> 01:19:15,279
there was fifteen. It wasn't a
traditional rebuild, which is but like,

1212
01:19:15,359 --> 01:19:19,760
this is not a team that was
actually they endured two years worth of a

1213
01:19:19,840 --> 01:19:25,119
relevance in the standings, let's say, because they were still relevant culturally esthetically.

1214
01:19:25,319 --> 01:19:29,880
But grant this was great as always
a lot of fun questions here,

1215
01:19:29,920 --> 01:19:31,600
There's still so much that I just
don't understand about this season. As we

1216
01:19:31,680 --> 01:19:36,039
get to the quarter mark, everyone
follow Grant on Twitter if you've not already

1217
01:19:36,119 --> 01:19:41,439
at GT underscore Hughes. He will
sometimes retweet people's tweets, or he will

1218
01:19:41,520 --> 01:19:45,119
sometimes tweet himself. It's always a
treat when you see a Grant Hughes Twitter

1219
01:19:45,239 --> 01:19:49,000
activity pop up in your feed.
Such a hard sell for you, such

1220
01:19:49,039 --> 01:19:53,079
a hard sell for you. Thanks
so much again for coming on though,

1221
01:19:53,279 --> 01:19:57,479
and Grant have a happy Thanksgiving and
for anyone listening to this before Thanksgiving,

1222
01:19:57,520 --> 01:20:00,239
hopefully maybe while you're traveling, or
hopefully you don't have to travel all.

1223
01:20:00,720 --> 01:20:02,880
Happy Thanksgiving to you all. Be
safe, have fun, eat lots of

1224
01:20:02,920 --> 01:20:05,960
food, and until next time,
I'll leave you all with a shout out

1225
01:20:06,000 --> 01:20:12,239
to the one, the only,
Dallas's Best offseason edition, Frank You Akina